A Place To Call Home
by Et Bellator
Summary: Join Team CPER as they traverse the world of Remnant, hoping only to survive each other. Join someone who is trying to escape their past, someone who hates other people, someone with an overly cheerful disposition, and someone whose bark is stronger than their bite. Be ready for action, romance, splendid writing, and handsome protagonists. Credit to Metatality for the image.
1. Chapter 1

It was an average night for a little miss Ruby Rose. She was in her favorite shop, reading comics and listening to music with her friend Roy Jameson, a well muscled sword wielder. They were both listening to music, Roy choosing to listen to Carry on my Wayward Son and Ruby listening to This Will be the Day, both of them too caught up to notice the men entering the shop.

There were five men in all, four in black suits and one in white. They approached the owner of the shop, who was very nervous.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" the man in the white suit asked, one of his goons drawing his gun as he did so.

"Please, just take my Lien and leave." she shop-keep said, putting his hands up.

"Shh, calm down. We're not here for your money." the man in the white suit placated the man, who was very confused.

"Grab the Dust." the man ordered the black suited men. who immediately got to work. Two went to the left side of the shop, filling up their containers with the different kinds of Dust. The one on the right was about to begin filling up his own, but stopped when he heard music. Turning quickly, he drew his sword and advanced towards the two people.

"Alright kids, put your hands where I can see 'em." he told the two youths, who seemed to ignore him. He stalked closer, raising his voice.

"Hey! I said hands in the air!" he demanded once more, still approaching the two.

"You got a death wish or somethin'" he asked rhetorically as the tapped their shoulders. They both turned around and it was revealed to the man that they had headphones on. He gestured at his ears, indicating that we wanted them to take their headphones off. They complied.

"Yes?" asked the girl in a sweet voice.

"I said, put your hands in the air, now!" the man repeated, pointing his sword at the two.

"Are you seriously planning on robbing us?" the guy asked, sounding as if the man was stupid to even try.

"Yes!" the man replied. The two youths exchanged nods, then simultaneously kicked the man into the opposite wall.

The other men saw the explosion of goods as their comrade slammed into a shelf and quickly ran over. The one who got there quickest saw the pair and pointed his gun at them. The guy activated his shield and covered the girl as the man opened fire. When he ran out of ammo in his clip, the guy launched the red girl at the black suited man, sending him through the shops window.

The other suited men turned to look through the recently smashed window to see the girl unfold a huge red scythe and impale it into the ground. The guy quickly dashed out after her, taking his place by her side.

"Well? Get them!" the white suited man yelled out at his men, who obliged rather quickly. The first man out the window took the blunt end of a scythe to the chest, sending back into the shop rather forcefully. The second man tried to shoot at the girl, but took a shield to the face before he could fire his weapon. The third man chose to be smart and run, but was stopped by a shield sending him into a wall.

"Well, you were worth every penny, truly you were." the white suited man said to his fallen comrades, sarcasm nearly dripping off of his voice.

"Well, kiddos, as much fun as this was, I'll be taking my leave." said the man as he raised his cane and a sight popped up, indicating that it was also a gun.

The guy quickly raised his shield and covered the girl as the man fired an explosive blast from the end of cane. As the smoke cleared the duo saw the man was gone and searched for him. They soon spotted him climbing a ladder to a rooftop.

"You alright if we go after him?" Ruby asked the shopkeeper, who had stumbled into the door frame. He simply nodded in response, feeling bad to be sending two kids after a criminal, but knowing them to be capable.

The pair quickly rushed to the rooftop to confront the man.

"Hey!" Ruby called out to him.

"Persistent." the man muttered under his breath as an airship appeared in front of him. He quickly boarded and turned to face the two trouble makers.

"End of the line kiddos!" he yelled out as he tossed a small crystal onto the rooftop near the duo. They both looked confused and stared at it, not seeing the man raise his cane and fire. The were saved a purple shield that blocked the blast.

As the smoked cleared, the two got to see their savior, a tall woman with glasses and blonde hair. The woman quickly swung her weapon, sending purple tendril out to strike the ship.

"We've got a Huntress!" the white suited man called out to the pilot who switched places with him. The pilot quickly saw the problem and sent a fireball at the trio that was blocked by a purple shield once more. She then tried to set off an explosion beneath them, but they evaded it.

The woman on the rooftop quickly took the shards form the explosions and formed them into a spike, which she promptly send towards the airship. The woman within the cargo bay send blasts at the spike, but it reformed. Fortunately for them, the white suited man saw it coming and turned the ship make the spike scrape against the ship rather than pierce it.

The woman with glasses split the spike into three tendrils and sent them all at the ship. The woman within the ship the off a wave of force that disintegrated the tendrils and the ship flew off.

Ruby and Roy did what they could, Ruby shooting at it and Roy yelling, sending off a wave of force that rocked the ship but had no effect.

After the ship sped off, the trio sheathed their weapons.

"Your a Huntress?" Ruby asked the woman, who looked down at her.

"Can I have your autograph?"

Later On

"I hope you know that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, you two." said the woman, who was revealed to be Glynda Goodwitch.

"They started it." Roy countered, feeling rather annoyed at being yelled at.

"If it were up to me, you would both be sent home." Glynda continued, still pacing.

"With a pat on the back." she added in a much less audible tone.

"And a slap on the wrist!" she followed up her statement with slapping her weapon down onto the table.

"But, there is someone who wants to meet you." Glynda finished, putting a look of puzzlement of the duo's faces.

As if on cue, two people entered the room, a tall man with silver hair and girl around Roy's age with blonde hair. Ruby recognized the silver-haired man as Professor Ozpin.

"Ruby Rose and Roy Jameson. You both have caught my curiosity." said Ozpin. The girl with him placed a plate of cookies and two glasses of milk on the table and slid them towards the duo.

Ruby quickly dived into the cookies, leaving none for Roy, who didn't seem to mind.

"Would you both like to tell me where you learned to fight like this?" Ozpin asked, showing them footage of them beating the goons into a pulp.

"Signal Academy." the duo responded in unison.

"Signal Academy taught you to fight like this?" Ozpin asked once more.

"Well, one teacher their, to be more specific." Roy clarified.

"It's just that I've only seen one other blade user of that caliber before. A dusty old crow." Ozpin continued.

Ruby made some strange noises, who probably meant she tried to say something with a mouth full of cookies. She quickly swallowed them so she could actually speak.

"That's my uncle Qrow." Ruby clarified.

"We were complete garbage before he took us in." Roy added.

"And now we're all like WAA!" Ruby continued to make strange noises combined with hand motions, insinuating that they were akin to ninjas.

"So I see." Ozpin said, the smallest hint of a smile gracing his features.

"And what are kids like you doing in a school for warriors?" Ozpin asked, that trace of a smile still there.

"We want to be Hunters." Roy answered.

"You want to slay monsters?" Ozpin inquired.

"Yeah. We've only got a couple more years at Signal left, then we're gonna apply to Beacon." Ruby answered, but she didn't stop there.

"My sister is starting there this year and she wants to become a Huntress, and we want to become Hunters because we want to help people. We were both taught to help people, so we figured 'hey, why not make a career out of it?'. I mean, the police are alright, but Huntsman and Huntresses are so much more romantic and exciting and cool and just YAHH y'know?" Ruby finished. Even Roy was impressed at how much energy she had.

"Do you know who I am am?" Ozpin asked.

"You're professor Ozpin, headmaster up at Beacon" Roy answered.

"Hello." said Ozpin.

"A pleasure to meet you." Roy responded.

"You two want to come to my school?" he asked.

They looked at each other and locked eyes before answering.

"More than anything." the answered in unison.

"Well, OK then." Ozpin said, placing a shocked look upon the duo's faces. He then left with Glynda, leaving only the duo and the strange girl in the room.

"What might your name be?" Roy asked her.

"Paige." she replied.

"Are you going to Beacon too?" Ruby questioned.

"Yes. Starting this year. I hope to see you two around." she answered as the stood up to leave.

"Likewise, Paige." Roy responded.

Chapter Two

Ruby and her older sister, Yang, had just gotten off the airship and were taking in the sights of Beacon. Yang had ditched her pretty quickly, running off with her friends. Ruby just sighed and moved to step back, but tripped on something.

As she hit the ground, the saw suitcases fly up, meaning she had crashed into someone's luggage.

"What are you doing?" asked a voice that was cold and demanding. The voice belonged a girl dressed in all white, from her hair to her combat skirt.

"Uh, sorry." Ruby tried to apologize, but the girl's anger would not be stopped.

"Sorry? Do you have any idea how much damage you could have caused?" the girl asked.

Ruby tried to pick up a case and hand it to the girl, but she yanked it out of her hands instead.

"Give me that!" the girl demanded.

"This is Dust! Mined and purified by the Schnee Quarry. What are you, brain dead?" the girl continued her rant, shaking a bottle with a loose lid to prove her point.

"Dust! Fire, water, lightning, energy!" she continued. As she shook the bottle, trace amounts of Dust entered Ruby's nose, tickling it.

"Are you even listening to me? is any of this sinking in? What do you have to say for yourself?" the girl questioned, not stopping her rant.

The tickling could not be ignored, and Ruby reared back for the mother of all sneezes. As she sneezed, the Dust reacted and exploded in a cloud of elements, leaving the girls covered in dust.

"Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!" the girl continued, shaking herself off.

"I'm, really, really sorry" Ruby tried to apologize, but it did her no good.

"Ugh, you complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?" the girl asked, her rage still burning hot.

"Well, I-I-" Ruby was cut off as the girl began yelling once more.

"This isn't your ordinary combat school! It's not just sparring and practice you know! We're here to fight monsters, so watch where your going!" She finished.

"Hey! She said she was sorry, Princess!" said a voice that Ruby recognized as Roy.

"It's Heiress, actually." said a voice that none of them knew.

They all turned and saw two girls, one with dark, long hair and the other with short pink hair.

"Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company." the black haired girl continued.

"Finally some recognition!" Weiss called out. The black-haired girl wasn't finished yet, though.

"The same company known for it's controversial work forces and questionable business partners." she continued, making Weiss' face turn red from anger.

"That's enough, Blake." said the pink-haired girl, placing a hand on her friends shoulder. Weiss had stormed off, leaving her luggage to her butlers.

"Thanks for the assist." Roy said to the two girls, holding his hand out.

"No problem. My name's Elizabeth, but call me Liz." replied the pink-haired girl.

"Nice to meet you. My name's Roy. Who's your friend?" Roy asked, holding his hand out for Blake to shake. She didn't take it.

"Her name is Blake, and she isn't the most social person." Liz responded, swinging her arm around Blake.

"A pleasure to meet you both. This is my friend, Ruby Rose. Child Prodigy and destroyer of cookies." Roy said in a dramatic tone.

"A pleasure to meet you as well, but we must be off." Liz responded as she walked off with Blake.

"They seemed nice." Ruby commented.

"Yep." Roy replied, walking with Ruby.

"Hey you! Yeah you. Get over here!" Roy called out to another guy, a blonde.

"Uh, yes?" asked the boy as he approached the duo.

"What's your name?" Roy asked.

"Jaune. Yours?" Jaune replied.

"Roy. I think we're gonna be good friends Jaune."

"And, uh, why's that?" Jaune asked, still pretty confused.

"Because we both have swords." Roy explained like it was the most simple thing ever.

"Oh." was Jaune's response.

Speech Time

"Ruby, Roy! Over here, I saved you a spot!" Yang called out to them.

"Sorry, Jaune, but we've got to go." Roy said as he and Ruby walked towards Yang.

"Aww man, where am I gonna find another person that'll be nice to me?" Jaune asked himself out loud as he walked away, not seeing the scarlet-haired girl watching him.

"So what's going on?" Yang asked.

"You mean after you ditched me and I exploded?" Ruby asked in return.

"Yikes, mental breakdown already?" Yang inquired.

"No, Yang. She actually exploded." Roy clarified.

"I tripped over some crabby girls luggage, then she started yelling at me, and I sneezed and everything exploded and she started yelling at me again. I just wanted her to stop." Ruby explained.

"You!" shouted an icy voice from behind Ruby, making her jump into Yang's arms.

"Oh no, it's happening again!" she cried out.

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" Weiss continued.

"Listen, Princess. It was an accident, so drop it." Roy said.

"And if I don't?" She replied, indignant.

"Then I'm gonna have to yell back. And you wont like that." Roy threatened.

"Listen, I think we all just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and be friends?" Yang offered.

"That's a great idea. Hi Weiss. I'm Ruby. Wanna be friends? We can go shopping for school supplies together." Ruby said all of this before Weiss could get a word in.

"Oh yeah, and we can paint our nails, try on clothes, and talk about cute boys! Like tall, blonde, and scraggly over there." Weiss said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Really?" Ruby asked, hope in her voice.

"No." Weiss said.

"Seriously, girly, you need to chill out." Said a new voice that sounded vaguely familiar to Roy and Ruby.

"And who might you be?" Weiss asked, turning towards the newcomer.

"Paige. Paige Carlyle. And you are being obnoxious." Paige responded.

Weiss only 'hmph'd and stalked off.

"Thanks for the save, Paige." Roy said.

"Not a problem. Can't stand girls like her." Paige replied.

Night Time

Ruby was done with setting up her sleeping area and had finished her letter for her friends at Signal when she noticed something. Or rather, someone.

She wouldn't have seen him if something on his cheek hadn't reflected a bit of light into her eye. He was huddled in a shadowy corner, knees up to his chest and his head resting on them. He was wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled over his head. It looked like his body was shaking and it took Ruby and couple seconds to piece together what was happening. The boy was crying.

She didn't know why, but she felt the need to help him, so she gathered up one of her most precious objects and walked over to him.

"Hello?" she asked as she approached him, but when he didn't respond she took a closer look and saw he was listening to music.

She tapped him on the shoulder and he bolted up, deep blue eyes meeting silver. He took his sleeve and wiped it across his face, trying to clean himself up a bit.

"Yes?" he asked, obviously still shaky.

"A-are you alright?" Ruby asked, crouching down to get to the same height.

"Yeah. I'm alright. Is there something you need? Did you want the spot? I'll move if you want me to." he shot out quickly, even compared to Ruby's standards.

"No, I just saw you crying so I brought you this." Ruby replied, handing him a napkin with something in it.

He boy looked at her with a puzzled expression before taking the napkin. When he opened it up, he saw a single chocolate-chip cookie. He was confused for a second, but he started to smile. His first genuine smile in a long time. The pure childish innocence that she must have to help with a cookie was so endearing that he really had no choice.

"Thank you, Miss...uh." he stopped talking quickly, realizing he didn't know this girl's name.

"Ruby. Ruby Rose. What's your name?" she asked, sounding genuine.

"Cooper." he replied.

"What's your last name?" she questioned.

"I don't have one." he mumbled, sounding pretty down about it.

"You don't have a last name?" she asked, it sounded pretty weird to her.

"Yeah. I never got around to finding one." he responded.

"Finding one?" Ruby inquired.

"Isn't that how you get them?" Cooper asked in return.

"No. You get them from your parents." she answered, then watched his head droop back down.

"Oh." was all he said.

"Do you want to go over to where me and my friends are?" Ruby asked the strange boy.

"No thank you. People hate me less if they don't see me." he replied, like it was a normal thing to say.

"Why would people hate you?" Ruby asked, placing a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him.

He look at her for a few seconds, his eyes locking on hers, almost as if he was debating whether or not to tell her. Then he reached for his hood.

"Because of these." he said as he pulled his hood down, revealing two extremely white cat ears.

"Oh my god." was all Ruby could get out.

"So yeah, please don't hate me. That would suck." was all Cooper said.

"They're so cute!" Ruby almost yelled, startling the boy.

"Cute?" Cooper asked, highly confused.

"Can I touch them? Please let me touch them." Ruby pleaded.

Cooper turned stiff as a board, but nodded his head slightly. Ruby gently placed one hand between the ears and began to pet.

As she continued to scratch lightly and caress his ears, Cooper started to loosen his muscles, eventually beginning to like the treatment. Then he let himself get too comfortable, and he let out a purr. His eyes widened in horror and curled up into a ball once more.

"I'm so sorry. It wont happen again." he cried out, his ears flattening against his head.

"Cooper, It's fine. It was really cute." Ruby said as she rubbed his back, trying to comfort him.

"It's fine. You don't have to lie. I know you think I'm a freak. Just please don't tell anyone else." he quickly shot out, albeit rather dejectedly.

"I'm not lying. It's really cute." Ruby tried to reassure him, but it didn't seem to work. He just kept his dean down, his ears flat against his head.

Eventually, it seemed like he had fallen asleep, his breathing deep and even. Ruby noticed the position he had fallen asleep in probably wasn't a comfortable one, so she decided to help him out.

Ruby went over to her area and picked up two pillows and blankets, bringing them over to the corner. She gently lifted Cooper's head, placing a pillow beneath it and putting the blanket over him. Knowing he would probably start freak out if he woke up and his hood was down, she placed it back over his ears. She quickly laid down beside him, pulling her blanket up over herself.

He breathing was OK at first, but soon he started to toss and turn, his breathing starting to become that of someone who was scared. Knowing her new friend was having a nightmare, she did what Yang would do for her if she had one. She scooted closer to Cooper and wrapped and arm around him, pulling him closer and singing a lullaby in his ear.

His breathing returned to it's normal pacing and he started to move less after about a minute. Ruby then realized how tired she was and closed her eyes, knowing she would need her rest for the day ahead.

* * *

**Sup mortals. Here with another RWBY fanfic, this one using the insertion of a new team into the world of Remnant. Wait why am I putting this here? This should should go in the description. Oh well. Anywho, I will try to get back to Hawke fairly soon, but with high school going on, things are somewhat hectic. I'll catch you guys on the flip side. ~Tor**


	2. Chapter 2

"What the hell is he doing to my little sister?" Ruby heard a familiar voice yell, but in her grogginess she couldn't place it.

What did wake her up was the crash that came afterwards, along with a cry of pain.

"Yang, what the hell are you doing?" Ruby heard Roy yell out after the crash, apparently mad about it.

Ruby opened her eyes and saw Cooper curled with in the corner once more, pulling his hood down as far as it would go as a certain blonde stalked towards him.

"This guy was pervin' on my little sister!" Yang shouted back at Roy, picking Cooper off the ground by his collar.

"Yang you need to calm the hell down!" Roy yelled right back at her, even going as far as activating his shield.

Yang didn't even answer, she just drew her other arm back preparing to punch the boy in her hands.

"Yang, don't!" Ruby cried out, but it was too late, the fist flew forward. Only to be to halted halfway to Cooper's face. It looked like Yang was struggling against something.

"Please don't punch me." Cooper said, lifting his head to reveal that his irises had turned from their deep blue to a black color.

"What the hell are you doing?" Yang asked him, shaking him to emphasize.

"Let me go, and I'll tell you." He offered, she obliged. When he stood back up, he brushed off his black coat and smoothed out his hood.

"Tell me!" Yang yelled out at him, still mad for some reason.

"I have short ranged telekinetic abilities. I was able to stop your punch by focusing energy around me to form a sort of shield." he explained, his eyes slowly changing back to blue.

Ruby was a bit confused, he seemed completely different then he had been last night.

Yang just growled and tried to punch him once more, only to be stopped yet again.

"Please stop." Cooper said, it looked like he was struggling to contain the brawler's pure strength.

She didn't, she just kept forcing her fist against the shield that protected him.

"I'm so sorry." Cooper said, confusing everyone. Then Yang punched herself in the face.

"Yang! Are you okay?" Roy asked, rushing over to the blonde on the floor. Ruby was still confused. Cooper walked over to to her and held out this hand, offering to help her up.

"You just stay right there." Roy said, walking towards Cooper.

"Okay." he replied meekly, his eyes fully back to their normal color.

"How did you do that?" Roy asked him, retracting his shield back into a bracer, a smile on his face.

"I redirected her punch's force and sent into a knockout spot." Cooper explained, shrinking down a bit, like he expected to be hit.

"Awesome!" Roy exclaimed, patting Cooper on the back, confusing both Ruby and Cooper.

"Awesome?" Cooper echoed, apparently very confused.

"Dude, you knocked her out with her own fist. I've never seen something that cool!" Roy explained, still pretty enthusiastic about it.

"Uh, thanks. I guess." Cooper replied, offering his hand to Ruby once more. She took it and stood up, trying to take in everything that just happened.

"You're not mad right?" Cooper asked, looking into Ruby's eyes. She just shook her head, still a little stunned. Yang had never been beaten by her own hands before.

"So, uh, you guys mind explaining what you were doing?" Roy asked, lifting an eyebrow. They both looked confused.

"What do you mean? All I remember is being thrown into a wall for no apparent reason." Cooper replied.

"Ah, yes, well allow me to explain." Roy said, stretching his arms and back.

"When we found you two, Ruby had her arm around your chest, and you hand her hand pressed against your chest. That blonde over there is Ruby's sister, Yang. She thought you were some kind of perv and got pretty mad about it." Roy explained, not noticing the blush on the duo's faces.

"Oh." was all Cooper said in return. Yang was waking up by this point, her eyes flipping open.

"What the hell just happened?" she asked as she stood up, causing Cooper to back up a few feet.

"You just knocked yourself out." Ruby said, finally finding her voice.

"What? The last I remember is trying to punch that guy." Yang gestured towards Cooper to show who she meant.

"Bad move there, Yang. He made you punch yourself instead." Roy explained, the memory bringing a smile to his face.

"Oh." she replied, rubbing the area where her own fist had attacked her.

"Sorry about that." Cooper apologized, head bowed.

"Just explain why you two were like that." Yang said, still sore.

"All I remember is having a rough night, and Ruby came over to help. After, um, a certain thing happened, I don't have any memory. That probably means I fell asleep. How all this happened, I don't know." Cooper explained.

"A certain thing? Did you two make out or something?" Yang asked, bringing a blush to both Ruby and Cooper's faces.

"No, Yang! We did not! I was just-" Ruby quickly cut herself off, realizing that spilling Cooper's secret was probably a bad idea.

"I was just helping him out." she finished in a much lower tone.

"Anywho, what's your name, dude?" Roy asked, not really caring about what happened.

"Cooper. Just Cooper." Cooper answered.

"Well, Just Cooper, we should probably get ready for the day, eh pal?" Roy said, throwing his around Cooper's shoulders, causing him to once again look very confused.

"Pal?" Cooper echoed.

"You know it."

**Initiation Time**

"Landing strategy?" Cooper asked himself after Ozpin's small speech. Fortunately, he didn't seem to be only one not understanding, Jaune asking many questions regarding the same subject.

Cooper looked over after he heard a metallic clang and saw that the person to his left and disappeared.

"What?" He asked himself, then he got thrown into the air. His thoughts weren't very collected as gravity began to take over.

Realizing he needed to do something before he was turned into a human splatter on the ground, he formed a small gather of branches to slow his descent, scratching him up all over and tearing his clothes in the process. He landed with an audible thud and a groan.

Ruby had less trouble, using Crescent Rose's recoil to slow herself down and land neatly.

Yang seemed to be having fun with it, putting on a pair of Aviators and using Ember Celica's explosive blasts to launch herself further, eventually landing with a roll.

Roy used his shouting ability to slow his descent, landing with bent knees and an extended shield.

Paige used her bo staff to place between branches and do acrobatic manuevers, only to be caught on a branch partway down.

Liz used her twin daggers to impale a tree and slide down to the ground,landing neatly

Blake had used Gambol Shroud to impale tree after tree, pulling herself forward and lessenign her speed simultaneously.

Weiss used her Glyphs to slow her speed, landing daintily and properly, as would befit someone of nobility.

**Sweet Teams Are Made of These**

Cooper laid on the ground for a few minutes, inspecting his injuries. He was about to get up when he smelled an odd scent, that of blueberries and vanilla. Feeling rather curious, the went to go investigate, not realizing he would encounter resistance.

He was about to cross a clearing when a Beowolf appeared before him, swiping at his face. His reflexes kicked in and he ducked, the swipe going over his head. Taking his time to examine the area, he realized he was surrounded.

Liz was dashing through the woods, calling out to anybody and thinking up back up plans when she entered a clearing. She wasn't the only one in it, however. She saw a strange guy in black clothing surrounded by a pack of Beowolves and was about to dash in to help before she saw what he could do.

Cooper realized he would have to fight, so he placed his hand on the hilt of the sword on his back and drew it out slowly. He only used Umbra when he needed to, and now was one of those times. He got into his combat stance, sword arm back and left arm forward, waiting for one of the Wolves to attack.

The first one swiped at him, going for his chest, but it's arm was gone before the strike reached it's target. He quickly reacted to the others, slicing limbs and heads off one by one, dodging their paws and maws. Realizing he had two left, he dashed forward, bringing Umbra to his side, slicing both of the creatures in half before they had a chance to strike.

Liz saw all of this go down by the tree line, seeing his reaction speed and skill with a blade. She just sat there, wondering where he learned to fight. She saw him sniffing the air, and wondered what he was doing, then his head snapped around his eyes locked onto hers.

Yang was having a good time with the two Ursai that she had met, twirling and punching in a flurry of pain. All was well until a lucky swipe cut her most precious possession. A single hair floated down in front of her, finally landing on the ground. Enraged, she quickly charged the first one, a flurry of powerful punches killing the creature far before it was slammed through multiple trees.

She was about to go after the second one when a it fell over, revealing a girl dressed in black. Yang's currently red eyes met amber, the pairing formed.

Ren was having a pretty rough day already. Nora had nearly killed him(again) and now he was being attacked by a giant snake with two heads. He had tried to run up and shoot it, but his weapons had been smashed out of his hand, leaving him with just his hands. One of the snake heads attempted to bite him, but he stopped it with his aura, yanked out of it's teeth and blasting it through the thing's skull.

Unfortunately for him, the second snake head had creeped up behind him, about to swallow him who. That was before it smashed into paste by a rather large hammer. Before he could say anything, he got 'boop'ed right on the nose, light red eyes meeting pink.

Roy was enjoying his stroll through the woods when stumbled upon a certain blonde girl who seemed to be having a bit of trouble with a tree branch. It appeared she had been caught during her fall and was having trouble getting uncaught.

So he did what any typical well mannered person would do. He drew his sword and ran up the tree, cutting the branch she was stuck on, sending her to the cold, unforgiving ground.

She appeared to be shocked for a few seconds, before removing the thing from her clothes and locking eyes with her savior, brown interlocking with green.

Ruby was dashing through the forest, looking for her sister when she had to make a sudden brake, seeing as how a certain white themed girl was directly in her path. As Ruby slowed down, it seemed time did as well, Weiss' head moving up in slow motion, meeting Ruby's eyes.

Jaune felt that he was going to die. Gravity had long since taken hold of him, after being launched into the air. As he felt himself drawing closer to the ground, a spear stabbed right through his hood, nailing him to a tree. He called out a thanks to his savior, who he realized was Pyrrha after he saw the spear.

He waited for a while, not seeing his savior. Eventually, Weiss appeared, looked at him, then stalked off. He just sighed. Then she finally showed up, asking if he had any spots left on his team. He told her just how funny she was, but when she stayed, he realized she was serious.

**Time To Party**

Cooper and Liz were walking along in silence, neither knowing how the other acted. They approached the temple with relative ease, picking up a silver Knight and waited for others to show up. They didn't have to wait very long.

Roy and Paige walked calmly towards the temple, seemingly without a care in the world. The approached the podiums and grabbed a silver knight.

Blake and Yang came next, doing a light jog towards the temple, not in a hurry, but not really wanting to wait longer. They dashed in and grabbed a white pawn.

Ren and Nora came by a while later strolling through the temple and grabbing a black rook.

Ruby and Weiss came next, both falling from the side of a Nevermore and being caught by Cooper and Roy. They let themselves out of their saviors' arms and grabbed a white pawn.

Pyrrha and Jaune came next, sprinting away from a Deathstalker that was hot on their tail. They crashed into the temple in a heap, grabbing a black rook.

"How are we gonna deal with that bad boy?" Roy asked, breaking the ever-deepening silence.

"Like this." Ruby said as she dashed out to meet their new foe.

"Ruby!" Yang called out after her, seeing the new threat that her sister did not. A huge Nevermore coming straight at them.

Ruby swung her scythe at the scorpion, only for it to just bounce off it's armor and be knocked back by one of it's pincers.

"I'm fine!" Ruby yelled as she tried to retreat only to be stopped by a razor sharp feather pinning her cape and her to the ground. She tugged and struggled, but it wouldn't come free.

The Deathstalker was approaching her slowly, knowing her to be trapped. It drew it's tail back, preparing for the deadly blow. Ruby closed her eyes, not wanting to see it. The tail shot down, only to stop somewhere inbetween the girl and the scorpion.

After a few seconds, she opened her eyes to see Cooper on one knee with his hands up, doing the same thing he did with Yang's punch. Then he threw one hand back towards Ruby and the feather lifted up, but the strain of doing both things allowed the tail to get dangerously closer to him.

"Go." Cooper said in strained voice once Ruby was free, both hands back to the tail.

"But-" she tried to offer her help, but was shot down.

"Go!" he yelled, turning back towards her. His eyes were the same black color as they were the time before. She just nodded and ran into Yang's arms, both of them dashing back to the temple.

Looking back, they saw Cooper struggling to contain the beast's force, the tail slowly advancing. He was caught now, if he reached for his sword, his concentration would break, allowing the tail to impale him. Yet, if he did nothing, he would die anyways.

Reaching slowly, so as to not disturb his concentration, he reached for Umbra, his only hope. He slowly unsheathed his sword, the tail moving closer and closer. He would only have one shot at this.

He stopped the force and swung his sword, a dangerous fight against time. It worked well, the dangerous part the tail was cut off before it reached him, instead of impaling him it just grazed his arm. By graze, of course, that meant a deep cut that bled profusely.

Cooper had worked out a method of keeping blood in though, he used his Semblance to keep pressure on the wound, keeping blood in, and walking back to the group.

"Anyone have a bandage?" he asked with a smile. That was right before he passed out. Ruby quickly dashed out and caught him, but knew she couldn't carry him, and without him being able to keep it in, his wound began to bleed.

"Allow me." said Liz, walking up to the downed Cooper. She quickly pulled out a bandage out of a pouch, and rolling up his sleeve to inspect the wound. It didn't look good. The area around the cut was a dark purple color, the cut skin already shriveling up.

"It seems the venom has already infected his system. We need to get him to the infirmary ASAP." Liz diagnosed, fitting the bandage around the wound.

"Will he be OK?" Ruby asked, her eyes wide.

"Depends. We need to move. Now." Paige replied.

"I'll carry him." Roy offered, swinging Cooper over his shoulder.

"What are we going to do about big, mean, and feathery over there?" Paige asked.

"Nothing. We are going to run. And run quickly." Ren said, startling the whole group, but no one disagreed. And so they sprinted off, forming a loose circle around Roy and Cooper.

They reached the cliffs, but apparently that was where the Nevermore liked to rest, so now they had to deal with him.

"Any plans?" Paige asked. Ruby smiled, an idea forming within her mind.

"Okay, that is a really creepy smile." Weiss said. Everyone agreed.

"Just listen up." Ruby sighed. It was one heck of a plan too.

"Okay. I'm likin' this." Roy commented.

"It will be...interesting." Blake added.

They got to work. Everyone who did not have a specific role was sent to the top of the spire to draw the beast's attention.

Once it drew closer, Yang jumped into it's beak, holding it open with one arm and sending explosions down it's throat with the other.

"I! Hope! You're! Hungry!" Yang yelled as she sent the missiles down the beast, jumping out before it crashed into the cliff, dazed and confused.

"Now, Weiss!" Ruby called out, queuing Weiss into action.

The white-themed girl dashed forward, switching Myrtenaster's Dust chamber to blue. She jumped up as she reached the beast, freezing it's tail to the ground. She quickly dashed back.

Doing her part of the plan, Blake tossed Gambol Shroud's other half to Yang, both of them impaling it into the twin pillars, forming a makeshift slingshot. Ruby jumped onto it, standing on Crescent Rose. Weiss locked in her position with a Glyph, preparing for the final step.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked, dead set on her target.

"Hmph. Can I?" Weiss asked in a fashion that indicated that she could. However, her meaning was lost on Ruby.

"Can y-"

"Of course I can!" Weiss interjected, sending Ruby flying towards the behemoth.

Ruby landing on the side of the cliff with Crescent Rose's blade against the Nevermore's throat. She began to run up the cliff face as white Glyphs appeared, boosting her speed and allowing to go against gravity, along with shots from her beloved snyther

As she reached the top of the cliff, the jump up into the air, firing Crescent Rose and decapitating the beast. She landed on the cliff, her scythe impaling the ground as the creatures body fell, disintegrating.

"Whoa." was all that was said, that particular comment coming from Liz.

Back At The School

"We need to get him to infirmary, now!" Liz yelled out, seeing the poison in his veins had now spread to his hand and shoulder.

"Ruby, can you take him? You're the quickest one here." Roy said.

"Yes." she replied, draping her injured friend over her shoulder.

"See you soon." she called back as she dashed off, using her Semblance to get to high speeds. Even with her speed, the run took a couple of minutes, the infirmary was located the complete opposite side of the campus.

As she entered, the nurses took one look at Cooper's arm and rushed over, taking him from Ruby and laying him on a bed.

"Deathstalker anti-venom stat!" one of the nurses yelled out, taking off his long coat to better reveal the infection. It was spreading, fast. It had already gone past the shoulder, nearing the heart.

The nurse who rushed off for the antidote returned quickly, handing the other nurse a shot. Wasting no time, he stabbed it into Cooper's heart, hoping it was enough.

The pain from the shot and the fact that the poison no longer had as much of an effect on him, Cooper woke up, silver aura flashing out in a blinding light as his body combated the poison.

"How is he awake?" one the nurses asked.

"How is he even alive?" one of the others asked.

His aura died down after about a minute, the purple color slowly fading and the cut sealing itself back up. After another minute, Cooper appeared to be fine, stretching out his shoulder.

"Man, that sucked." he said, acting nonchalant. Ruby was angry and relieved and the same time. So she did what any girl would do. She slapped him across the face, then gave him a hug.

"Gah! What was that for?" Cooper asked as he returned the hug.

"Scaring us." Ruby replied, pulling back.

"I've have had way worse Ruby. Don't worry about me." he responded, looking right into her eyes.

"Can we take a blood sample?" he head nurse asked, looking a bit sheepish.

"What for?" Cooper asked, sounding rather insulted.

"It should've taken hours for that venom to wear off, yet here you are. It's, well, amazing." the nurse said.

"Sure, I guess." Cooper complied, grabbing an empty hypo and drawing out some of his own blood.

"Here you go. All yours." he said as he tossed the hypo the nurse, walking out of the room.

"Wait up!" Ruby called out, speeding off to get to him.

"Man that was rough." Cooper said as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Rough? You heard the guy! You could've died!" Ruby exclaimed, tugging on his arm to stop him.

"It's gonna take a lot more than one Deathstalker. I've got to live. I have no choice." Cooper replied, looking a bit downtrodden.

"What does that even mean?" Ruby asked, stepping up close to him.

"It's not important. But thank you Ruby. I know it was you who brought me here." Cooper said, smiling.

"Oh, it was nothing. Are you sure you're okay though?" Ruby asked, staring him right in the eyes.

"I'm fine, really. Now, shouldn't there be some sort of speech thing? For the teams?" Cooper questioned, looking around. Ruby's eyes went into saucer mode.

"Oh, right! This way!" Ruby called, taking Cooper's hand and sprinting back to the main hall.

"Ah!" was all she got in reply.

* * *

**Sup mortals. Here with chapter two, where things seem to be heating up. Who is this Cooper, and just how amazing awesome can he be? Feedback would be stupendous if you wouldn't mind. Anywho, just keep being awesome people. ~ Tor**


	3. Chapter 3

**Time For Teams**

"Cooper, Elizabeth Smithson, Roy Jameson, and Paige Carlyle . The four of you gathered the silver knight pieces and will henceforth be known as Team CPER (pronounced Copper). Lead by: Cooper." Ozpin said, leaving the team in confusion. Cooper most of all.

"Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren. The four of you gathered the black rook pieces, and will henceforth be known as Team JNPR. Lead by: Jaune Arc.

After their congratulations were over, Team JNPR left the stage, leaving only one group left.

"Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you gathered the white rook pieces, and will henceforth be known as Team RWBY. Lead by: Ruby Rose." Ozpin finished, allowing the team to express their happy sentiments to their new leader. Everyone except for Weiss.

**Dorm Time**

"So this is our room?" Liz asked.

"Apparently." Roy replied.

"I like it. Lots of corners." Cooper said, everyone giving him weird looks.

"S'alright." was all Paige had to offer.

"So now what?" Liz asked.

"I guess we decorate." Roy offered.

"We still have to unpack." Paige said.

"Well, some of us have to." That was when everyone simultaneously saw that he had no luggage. Even Ruby, who was just passing by.

"You don't have anything else, besides that sword and the clothes you're currently wearing?" Liz asked, incredulous.

"Pretty much." Cooper answered.

"Well then, I'm taking you shopping." Ruby said, startling the whole of team CPER.

"But I, uh, don't have any cash." Cooper admitted.

"That's fine, I do. And I will take you shopping!" Ruby exclaimed, seemingly unfazed.

"Thanks Ruby. I owe you. For a lot at this point." Cooper said.

"Nonsense. I am your friend, and thus I will act like it." she replied, going full on hero, then walking off.

"So. That's gonna be interesting." Liz commented.

**After Classes**

"Come now, sidekick. Away!" Ruby said as she grabbed Cooper's hand once more, dragging him towards the airship that would take them to town.

"Sidekick?" Cooper echoed, not fighting the excited redhead that was dragging him along the path.

They boarded the ship and went deep into downtown Vale, the city of shopping.

Their first stop was a place called What Hunters Wear Everywhere, which seemed a little cheesy to Cooper, but Ruby said it was a good place for clothes.

"What about these?" Ruby asked, picking up a pair of tan shorts.

"A: It's too light, and B: I don't wear shorts." Cooper replied, looking at a pair of black pants that were made from a light material.

"Do you have to wear black?" she questioned, looking around for something she thought he might like.

"No. Other dark colors work too." he responded, lifting the pants to see their size.

"Like?" she continued.

"Like dark red, dark brown, dark green, and really dark blue." he said, looking a shirt that said "Red Like Roses" on it, figuring it would work for Ruby fairly well.

"Then how about this?" she asked, showing him a a dark blue shirt, the same type of pants he had picked out, but blue, and a blue beanie.

"Perfect. How do you like this?" he asked her in return, showing her the "Red Like Roses" shirt.

"It's perfect! Thanks, Cooper." she said, giving a quick hug, causing him to blush a little.

"No problem. It's the least I could do." he replied.

By the time they were done, he had seven versions of the same outfit, only they were different colors. Dark red, dark blue, dark green, black, dark brown, dark purple, and a dark silver.

"You do realize these are all the same outfit right?" Ruby asked him. He just nodded.

They approached the register and the man there scanned the clothes, putting them all into bags.

"That'll be 334 Lien, please." the cashier said.

"Shucks! I don't have that much!" Ruby exclaimed.

"If only Yang was here." she said in a much lower tone.

"Wait, you know Yang? As in, Yang Xiao Long?" the cashier asked.

"Yeah, she's my sister, why?" Ruby asked.

"Don't worry about the Lien, it's on the house." he said, handing the bags to Cooper.

"Wait, why?" Ruby asked once more.

"Let's just say I owe your sister quite a few favors. This is the least I could do to repay her." he replied.

"Oh. Thank you so much!" Ruby exclaimed. Cooper just nodded at the man.

"Not a problem. Tell your sister John said hi." the cashier added.

That Night

Ruby woke up in the middle of the night, for no apparent reason. She looked around, seeing if something had disturbed her, but all was quiet.

Realizing she was not going to get to sleep anytime soon, she figured she would head to the roof for some fresh air. When she got there, she saw a dark-clothed figured swinging his legs off the side of the roof.

"Cooper?" she asked, walking up to him.

"Hey, Ruby." he replied, patting the spot to his left side, indicating she should sit down.

"What'cha doin' up here?" she asked, sitting beside him.

"Didn't want to sleep." he responded with a deep sigh.

"Nightmares?" she questioned, looking at him.

"Yeah. Every time I try to sleep they come. Always different, yet always the same." he answered cryptically.

"Have you tried something to help?" she asked, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Like what?" he inquired, curious.

"Whenever I had nightmares, Yang would sing to me." she offered.

"Who would sing to me, though?" he asked, seeing the flaw in her plan.

"Well I already have, once." she answered with a light blush.

"When?" he questioned, not remembering this at all.

"The night we met. After you fell asleep, you started to move a lot, so I figured you were having a nightmare. So I got closer and sang." she replied, the blush deepening.

"I wish I was awake for that." he responded with a smile.

"Can I try again?" she asked, meeting his eyes.

"Go for it. But wouldn't we need to be in the same bed? The others might not take kindly to being woken up. And I'm sure that us in the same bed would cause some complications." he commented, pointing out another flaw.

"As long as Yang doesn't find out, you probably won't be attacked." Ruby said.

"That's...not exactly reassuring." he replied, but smiling none-the-less.

"Oh c'mon. Don't you want to sleep?" she asked. His smile fell for a second, but came back just as quick.

"I guess I would, Ruby. Oh, and thank you." he added.

"It's fine, I like to sing anyway." she replied.

"That's not what I meant. I meant for being there for me. That night you saw me, it was my first night off on my own. I was scared. I was so used to people just being ruthless and uncaring. I was lost, alone in the dark. And then you found me, a single light fighting away the dark. An angel in a world of demons. You were there for me, and for some reason, I trust you." Cooper finished up his small speech, wiping away the single tear that had come out.

"On your own?" she asked, her voice soft.

"I'm guessing your already know that I didn't know my parents. The only people I knew that cared about me were taken away when I was younger, traded off so some other people. I lived a life of work, a world where there was no time to care. Everyone saw me as a tool, something to be used. I was traded between many people and many places, but it was always the same. You either worked until you bled, or they made you bleed anyways. It was during one of the transfers that I escaped, using a stolen blade to defend myself." he took a breath before continuing his story.

"I ran, so far. I ran until I couldn't, finally collapsing in a town called Vale. I heard about this school, a place where people helped others. I went to their testing grounds to get in, and I took their tests. I knew enough from doing paperwork for the people who bought me to pass the intelligence tests. I used my sword to pass the physical examinations. Using the sword felt natural, moves just popping into my head." once again he took a breath, shaking ever so slightly.

"And that's how I got here, what I thought would be a sanctuary. Only to find that the people here were the same. People still hated me, just because of my ears. So I learned, I learned to hide them. I learned to stay in the shadows, to just stay away from everything." he stopped for a second, calming himself.

"That night you found me, that was the first night I saw something that was actually beautiful. I looked at the gift you had given me. You might have handed me a cookie, but what I saw was so much more. I saw that there was hope. I saw that people could be kind, could actually care. I saw that there was something worth fighting for. It was you, Ruby Rose, that saved me. It was you that showed me a new way of life. It is for that, Ruby, that I thank you." Cooper finally finished, taking a long breath and letting it out.

Ruby just sat there, stunned. All she had meant to that night was cheer him up, but it had gone so much further. She didn't know what to do, so she just hugged him. He hugged her back rather quickly and they stayed like that for a while.

Eventually, Ruby got up and offered her hand to Cooper. He took and they went back to the room, careful not to wake up his room mates. Cooper got into his bed, not expecting Ruby to do the same, jumping in right beside him.

"Ruby what're you-

"_Dream of anything, I'll make it all come true_." Ruby cut him off, beginning to sing the most comforting song she could think of.

"Ruby you don't need to-"

"E_verything you need, is all I have for you_." she cut him off once more.

"Ruby-"

"_I'm forever, always by your side_." she kept singly, her voice low and comforting, soothing the distraught Cooper who finally closed his eyes and just listened.

"Whenever you need a friend, never far behind." she continued singing, waiting until his breathing evened out and stopped moving. Even then she didn't stop, going until she reached the end of the song, then wrapping an arm around his chest once more.

She closed her eyes and drifted off, her breathing synced with Cooper's.

"Should we wake them up?" Cooper heard a male voice ask, a bit too tired to place it.

"We do have classes today." he heard a female voice answer.

"True. But they look so comfortable." the male voice said.

"Doesn't matter. I will not let this team fail because they look comfortable." the female voice retorted.

Then he recognized the voices. And why he felt so warm. The night's events opened up in his mind, replaying in super speed. He opened his eyes quickly, startling Liz and Roy.

That's when he realized that he had an arm on his chest. Said arm belonging to a still sleeping Ruby Rose.

"This is not what it looks like." he said, gently taking Ruby's arm and placing on the bed, getting up.

"Sure. Just be sure to wake her up." Roy reminded him before walking off. Liz just winked and walked away.

"Ruby, it's time to wake up now." he whispered in her ear.

"Five more minutes." she pleaded, not fully aware of the situation.

"Sorry Ruby, but it's time to get up." he repeated, gently shaking her.

She opened her eyes slowly, silver meeting blue once more. Then she remembered, the blush returning to her face.

"Oh, uh, sorry. I'll leave now." she shot out as she sped off, leaving rose petals on his bed.

"I guess I'll wait then." he muttered to himself, sifting through his drawers to find his blue outfit.

Liz and Paige finished in the bathroom an hour and a half later, ready to meet the day. Cooper went into the bathroom and showered, putting on his blue outfit and placing the beanie over his ears.

"Here goes nothing." he said aloud, opening the door and dumping his used clothes into a bin.

"OK Team CPER, let's start this day off with a bang!" Liz exclaimed.

"Uh, Liz? Why are you standing on my bed?" Cooper asked.

"Obviously for dramatic effect." she replied.

"Anyways, what's the plan?" Paige inquired.

"Step one: go to class. Step two: got to second class. Step three: have lunch and socialize with other teams." Liz listed off.

"I'm game." Cooper commented.

"I would like to see how my shield-brother is doing." Roy said.

"Meh." was all Paige had to offer.

Elsewhere

"Jaune, shield bash!" Ren called out, Jaune slamming his shield into the ground.

"Who's there?" Pyrrha cried out, jumping out of bed pointing her spear at the source of the noise. Which happened to be blushing furiously. Then Pyrrha noticed she was still in her night clothes. Which consisted of a bra and very short shorts. She quickly dashed back under her covers, blushing.

"Uh, I'll just go now." Jaune said, walking out the door.

"I'll focus on waking up Nora, you get dressed." Ren said, turning to a still sleeping Nora while Pyrrha grabbed some clothes and dashed into the restroom.

"Nora, time to get up now." Ren whispered into his sleeping friends ear.

"No, let me smash the the cake." Nora said, obviously still asleep.

"Nora, there are pancakes." Ren stepped back after this, knowing that near Nora would be a dangerous place to be.

"Pancakes!" she cried out, bolting upright.

"That's right Nora. I'll start the pancakes." Ren offered, walking towards the kitchen.

"Yes!" he heard cry out.

**In Yet Another Dorm**

"Where's Ruby?" Yang asked after everyone was awake and ready.

"She was here last night." Weiss offered.

"Where could she have gone?" Blake inquired. The needn't have asked though, as the topic of their conversation burst through the door at that moment, breathless.

"Ruby! Where were you?" Yang asked as she squeezed her sister.

"Oh, y'know, places." Ruby answered, a slight blush on her face.

"What kinds of places?" Weiss asked, slight annoyed.

"Nice places. Warm places." Ruby seemed to lose herself for a moment, retracting into her memories.

"Earth to Ruby, hello." Yang said waving a hand in front her face and bringing her back to the present.

"Right! I need to get ready." Ruby exclaimed, dashing around, grabbing her necessary items and going into the restroom.

"That was...interesting." Blake commented.

"Indeed." Weiss agreed.

Lunch Time

"Team CPER has arrived!" Liz announced to pretty much the entire cafeteria.

"Keep it down." Paige said, sitting at the furthest table away from any other team, which Cooper found quite agreeable.

"Aw, c'mon. Have a little fun." Roy implored them, but they stayed seated.

"No thanks. Corners are nice." Cooper replied, eating his sandwich.

"So now what? We just wait for the others?" Liz asked, sitting down next to her partner.

"Yes." Cooper responded.

"Isn't that Team CPER?" Yang asked, walking into the cafeteria with the rest of her team.

"I suppose so." Weiss replied.

"Let's go!" Ruby exclaimed, not leaving any room for debate.

Team RWBY quickly approached the corner table, Blake sat next to Liz, Ruby next to Cooper, Weiss with Paige, and Yang with Roy.

"Hello, Team RWBY!" Liz shouted cheerily.

"What did we say about inside voices?" Paige asked her rather loud friend.

"Ugh, fine." Liz replied, much more subdued.

"So, what's up?" Yang asked the whole of Team CPER.

"Oh, y'know, the norm. Waking up, being surprised, being bored, and then being hungry." Roy answered, digging into his turkey leg.

"What is there to be surprised about?" Weiss asked the brown-haired knight.

"Oh, y'know, that thing with Cooper a-" Roy was going to finish that sentence, but a sudden force clamped his mouth shut.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Cooper responded for him.

"Right. Nothing." Blake said, raising an eyebrow.

"So what went on with you guys?" Paige asked, shifting the topic of conversation.

"Nothing. Normal morning. Except Ruby was gone." Yang replied.

"Oh, that. Yeah I was just, uh..." Ruby paused for a second, thinking up a decent conversation.

"She crashed in the library after studying with me last night." Cooper intervened on her behalf.

"Studying? That doesn't seem like her." Weiss commented.

"I was having a little trouble with my Grimm Studies, so she helped me out." he continued.

"Aw, Ruby, I'm so proud of you!" Yang exclaimed, reaching over the table to hug her little sister.

"Hehe, oh, it was nothing." Ruby replied, more than a little uncomfortable lying to her sister, but seeing that it was necessary.

"So what did you have trouble with, exactly?" Blake asked, more than a little suspicious.

"Grimm attack styles, along with life spans and hunting habits." Cooper responded, not even hesitating for a moment. Lying was something he had mastered long ago.

"Then why did you not ask your own partner?" Weiss asked, joining in with Blake's suspicion.

"She had gone to sleep early." he replied, looking to Liz for support.

"S'true." was all she said.

"Well then, fine by me." Yang said, not one to dig into any conversation about sudying.

Weiss just 'hmph'ed and returned to her food, Blake finishing up her tuna sandwich.

"Group training after this?" Roy asked.

"That could have two different meanings, Roy. Please specify." Paige implored him.

"As in, RWBY versus CPER." he clarified. Yang smiled.

"I'm in." she blonde brawler shot out.

"Sounds like fun." Liz added.

"Can't say I'm against it." Blake commented.

"Alright. As team leader, I call this war!" Ruby exclaimed.

"As team CPER's leader, I accept your declaration of war, and will live to see you regret it!" Cooper shouted, his team giving a primal war cry.

* * *

**Sup mortals. How's it chillin'? I'm only partially sorry to end on a cliffhanger, the rest of me is too excited because I got my Natsu scarf in the mail. So anyways, keep it cool interfectores. ~ Tor**


	4. Chapter 4

**Time to Fight**

"Liz, can you take on Blake?" Cooper asked. It was time to fight, and he was going to win.

"Pfft. Of course I can." she replied, oozing confidence.

"Roy, you deal with Yang." Cooper ordered.

"Already done." was Roy's response.

"Paige, you take on Weiss. Watch out for her Glyphs." Cooper warned his friend.

"Got it."

"That means you..." Roy trailed off at the end of his sentence.

"I, will take on Ruby." Cooper continued for him.

"Team CPER, we will win. We have no choice." Liz said.

"Hands in. On three, battle cry. Roy, make sure to give them something to be scared about." Cooper demanded of his team, sticking his hand out in the center of their huddle.

"Cliché much?" Paige asked, sticking her hand in nonetheless.

"Affirmative, Captain." Roy added, adding his hand into the mix.

"Let's kick some RWBY ass." Liz chimed in, placing her hand within the mix.

"One."

"Two."

"Three!"

Team RWBY looked over to the other team, hearing a wild battle cry that could make any Grimm run away. It didn't help that Roy's roar sent out a wave of force that dug a huge rut into the middle of the field.

"We all ready?" Ruby asked.

"Hell yeah." Yang said, shadow boxing.

"As I'll ever be." Blake added.

"Must we do this?" Weiss asked, drawing Myrtenaster.

"OK then team. Let's rock." Ruby finished, drawing Crescent Rose.

"Are both teams ready?" the instructor called out, using the stadiums speakers.

Team CPER let loose another battle cry as an affirmative. Ruby just gave a thumbs up.

"Then let the battle begin!" a loud bang was heard after this, starting the match.

Cooper charged forth, running to face his opponent, who ran to him just the same.

Roy and Yang were already engaged in combat, both exchanging blows that would make any other foe crumble.

Blake and Liz were spiraling in and out of combat, twirling and spinning like whirwinds of death.

Paige and Weiss were exchanging short, quick jabs and slahes, dodging and blocking in equal amounts.

Ruby and Cooper met in the middle of the field, eyeing each other.

"Sorry about this Cooper." Ruby called out. Cooper just smiled.

"You haven't won yet." was all he said before drawing Umbra, slowly and confidently.

Ruby realized her best chance was to strike before he could ready it, so she fired her snyther and sent the blade flying towards his head.

Seeing the blade moving for him, he dodged, ducking under the blade just enough to not get killed. But her assault didn't stop there, she used it's momentum to keep swinging, aiming at all parts of his body. He didn't even bother to try and block, he just dodged, always within an inch of the blade.

Feeling like it was time to attack, he forced himself into the air, swinging above her blade and bringing his own down. Ruby had just enough time to dodge, the blade impaling the ground where was previously stood. He didn't give her a break, swinging his blade in deadly arcs and stabs, all of his moves flowing like a river.

She saw a chance to strike, right after a downwards strike from Umbra, Cooper's neck left undefended. She fired the beloved weapon, planning on stopping right before reaching skin. She needn't have bothered, Cooper's blade met hers, sliding along her weapon until he found her throat.

"Got'cha." was all Cooper said as he raised Umbra to his opponents throat, ending their duel.

"How?" she asked. No one had ever been able to block an attack like before.

"I don't know. Just felt right." was his cryptic answer, sheathing his blade and offering his hand to shake. She took it and put Crescent rose back in its store-able form. They then looked around to see how their teammates were fairing.

Roy's battle had started rough, Yang's pure force putting many dents in his shield. He soon realized a flaw in her attacks, however. They may have been seamlessly transitioned, but her attack style left nothing for defense. Normally, she wouldn't need it, but Roy was stronger than most she had fought.

She punched with her left arm, expecting him to take the brunt of it, as he would normally do. But instead, he deflected it, sending it across her body, her own force turning her body. Realizing her mistake too late, she felt cold metal settle the side of hear throat.

"Sorry blondie, but I win." was Roy's declaration on victory, sheathing his sword and detracting his shield back into a bracer.

"We'll have to do this again some time." she replied, putting Ember Celica's safety mode back on.

"Anytime." he responded, shaking hands with her.

Liz and Blake were having a tough time landing hits on one another, the other too nimble for their opponent. After around five minutes without landing a hit, Liz finally decided to use her trump card. Throwing her cyan dagger at her opponents left side, hoping she would dodge right, directly into the path of her other dagger, hilt first of course.

Blake fell right into her trap, getting hit in the chest hard enough to be kicked over, and before she knew it, Liz had gathered her cyan dagger and had it pressed against Blake's throat.

"Sorry old friend, but I win this round." Liz said, putting her daggers back into their sheaths on her thighs.

"Didn't even see that coming. When'd you practice that?" Blake asked, doing that ninja kick thing to get up.

"I didn't. You knew all my moves, so I had to come up with a new one." she responded, hugging her friend.

"Oh." was all Blake said, awkwardly returning the hug.

Paige and Weiss' battle lasted the longest, each one too stubborn to give in. Both of them had suffered my cuts, bruises, and other battle afflictions during their encounter, neither gaining the upper hand until far later in the match.

Paige realized that Weiss' Dust chamber was reaching empty on nearly every kind she had, realizing that she had to get Weiss to try and use an empty chamber to win. She started to dart around her opponent using as much as she could muster, hoping Weiss would try and freeze her, which she did.

Weiss had just enough blue Dust left for one final freeze attack, but she didn't know this. She was too focused on her opponent. Her first shot missed, Paige, slipping through her fingers once more. When she tried to go for a second attack, she realized her mistake. And so did Paige. In the split second that Weiss stood confused, Paige had knocked Myrtenaster out of her hands and had her dual pistols trained on Weiss' head.

"Sorry, Princess, but you've been dethroned." Paige called out, tossing Weiss' rapier back to her.

"Impressive. Next time I wont be so careless, however." Weiss replied, putting away her treasured weapon.

"Next time, huh? I look forward to it." Paige said, sticking her hand out.

"As do I." Weiss agreed, shaking her opponents hand.

"Team CPER has won the match!" the instructor called out, and both of the teams heard cheering. Looking over, they saw that many of the other teams had come to watch the match play out, including JNPR and CRDL.

"Battle cry?" Roy asked. Cooper nodded, and they let out a fierce cry, one of victory and power, startling the audience and team RWBY.

**Stop. Dinner Time**

"Nice fighting out there today, Cooper." Pyrrha said, congratulating the winning teams leader.

"Thanks. Any chance your team is willing for a fight?" He asked.

"No no no. We're good." Jaune intervened before Pyrrha got him into something he couldn't back out of.

"A shame. Would've been fun to fight my shield brother." Roy commented, throwing his arm around the underwhelming blonde knight.

"Heh, yeah. A real shame." Jaune replied.

"Where's team RWBY?" Cooper asked, looking around for them.

"Why? Want to gloat?" Paige asked, lightly punching his shoulder.

"What? No. Just wondering." he replied, looking down at his food to hide a light blush.

"Or maybe you were hoping to see a certain redhead?" Liz asked, raising her left eyebrow.

"Gods above, please grant me the strength to not kill my team mates." Cooper murmured.

"Didn't deny it!" Liz exclaimed, throwing her fist in the air in victory.

"You will tell no one, or you will meet Umbra." Cooper threatened, looking her dead in the eye. It didn't look like he was kidding.

"OK OK, chill out. Just a joke." Liz apologized, throwing her hands up in surrender.

"Anyways, whats the plan, chief? We've got to follow this win up with another fight. Otherwise we'll just be a one-hit wonder." Roy said.

"Who'd fight us? We'd beat 'em into next week." Liz gloated.

"That was a close match Liz. I certainly wouldn't say that we 'beat them into next week'." Cooper replied.

"Please, we beat 'em 4-0. Nothing close about it." she continued, still oozing confidence.

"Right. But who would fight us? JNPR already turned us down." Roy noted.

"CRDL? We could raise our reputation and teach those bullies a lesson at the same time." Paige added.

"I wouldn't be against that. I hate those kinds of people." Cooper commented.

"We'd still have to train. They may not be good people, but they are good with a blade. I doubt they'd fight fair. We'd have to learn to fight as a unit." Roy said, everyone agreeing with him.

"True. We may know our way around a fight on our own, but together we'd just get in each other's way as it stands." Paige agreed.

"We need to schedule time in the training area. I'll speak to Port about it after classes tomorrow." Cooper offered.

"Aces. I'll go pick a fight- I mean I'll go politely ask team CRDL if they would wish to fight with us." Liz said, getting up to do just that.

"Then here we go. Team CPER is moving up the food chain!" Roy exclaimed, fist bumping everyone.

"Team JNPR will train as well. I hope we meet on the battlefield." Ren said, startling everyone, even a sleeping Nora.

"Pancakes!" was what the now awake Nora shouted.

"I would also a rematch with RWBY after a bit of team training. It would be a completely different fight." Paige noted.

"We would also like that." said a voice that came from behind team CPER.

They all turned and saw team RWBY standing behind them, Ruby being the one who spoke.

"Hope you didn't start the party without us." said a rather rambunctious blonde brawler.

"Just startin' hothead." Roy replied, earning him a punch from Yang.

"Where's the milk?" asked Ruby, taking her place next to CPER's team leader.

"Over there, right next to the chocolate chip cookies." Liz directed.

"Where'd you get cookies?" Ruby asked.

"Well, they were baked. From scratch. By someone who you would definitely not expect." Paige said, looking directly at Cooper, who seemed to have a sudden fascination with his food.

"Wait, Cooper baked cookies? The guy who just threatened to take a blade to me, baked cookies?" Liz seemed incredulous.

"I may have picked up a few tricks in life." he replied, neither accepted nor denying the accusation.

"Please tell you're kidding." implored a seemingly distraught Weiss. Cooper just sighed.

Throughout this conversation, Ruby had just been staring at Cooper, no one really paying her much attention.

"You baked cookies?" she asked, her voice low. He just nodded, staring at his food once more.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around a startled Cooper, who eventually returned the side hug with a pat on the shoulders.

"No problem." he got out before stuffing his face with food so no one could ask any more questions. Ruby quickly dashed over and grabbed a plate of cookies and two glasses of milk, somehow balancing the plate on her head whilst running back over to the table.

"Why'd you grab two glasses?" Cooper asked when she returned.

"Because cookies are better with milk." she replied, sliding a glass to him. He just looked at her quizically.

"You don't catch on very quickly do you?" Liz asked.

"I, uh, I guess not?" he responded, still confused. It was a few seconds before anyone told him what was going on. Eventually, it was Roy who broke the silence, feeling he had to throw his drowning leader a life vest.

"She's sharing the cookies with you, Coop." he said, seeing it all finally click in his head.

"Oh. Oh! Thanks Ruby. Wait, did you just call me Coop?" Cooper shot out in rapid succession, looking down at the plate of cookies that had already been divided into two halves.

"Yeah. It's just a nickname. Or, I mean, I guess it's just shortening it, but whatever." Roy replied.

"That's cool. I guess." Cooper said, dipping his first cookie into the milk.

Everyone just continued their separate conversations, enjoying the merriment and camaraderie of the two teams.

Cooper lifted the now soaked cookie and placed it in his mouth, his eyes widening then closing as he savored the sweetness.

"You really like cookies, huh?" Ruby asked, seeing the look on his face.

"Well, it was my first." he replied, reaching for another.

"I took your first?" Ruby shouted, making every either do a spit-take or choke on their food.

"What?" asked Yang, who was still choking on a piece of ham.

"Cookie! She was talking about cookies!" Cooper yelled, the blush on his face making him look like Ruby's cloak.

"What else would I have meant?" she asked, her innocence astounded nearly everyone.

"Don't worry about it. Ask Yang if you need to." Liz said, an evil gleam in her eye. Yang looked like she was about to kill her, and Cooper probably would have helped.

"Well, that's enough for one night. Everyone go back to their dorms." Roy demanded, everyone obliging. Unfortunatly for Cooper and Ruby, they were in the middle, so by the time everyone else left, only they were in the room.

"Will you be alright?" Ruby asked him.

"My team will put me through hell, but otherwise I'm fine." he replied, missing the point.

"I meant with your nightmares." she clarified, looking him in the eyes.

"Oh, uh, I'm not really sure. It doesn't really matter though. After that debacle, if we're seen together like that again, we'll be tortured endlessly." he responded.

"Then take this." she said, taking off her cloak, which surprised Cooper, who had thought it to be inbedded within her skin.

"Ruby, I can't. It's yours." Cooper denied her gift.

"Maybe, but if it helps you then I have to give it to you." she responded, still offering him the cloak.

"Ruby, it's not that big of a deal. Keep the cloak, it's obviously important to you. I'll be fine." Cooper said, pushing the cloak back towards her.

"Take the cloak, Cooper!" she exclaimed, thrusting it into his hands.

"I will not take it, Ruby." Cooper replied, swinging it around her and getting close to tie it.

"Just take it." she repeated, pushing on his shoulders.

"Stay still and let me tie it." he demanded, leaning closer to get a better view of the knot he was making. That's when her hands slipped, causing her to fall forward. Due to his currently leaned down position, Cooper's mouth was right in line with hers, and while she fell forward, their lips met.

Both of their eyes widened as they felt the sudden contact, though neither tried to stop it. Neither of them knew exactly what they were doing either, but it felt nice nonetheless.

They stopped shortly after, albeit very awkwardly.

"So, I'll just... go now." Cooper said, slowly backing up.

"Y-yeah. I'll see you tomorrow." Ruby replied, turning towards her dorm.

Cooper returned to his dorm, awaiting the questions of his team mates, only to find them asleep. Apparently they had been very exhausted. He just sighed and slipped into his own bed, trying to sleep as fast as possible.

Ruby entered her room quietly, shutting the door the same way. She tiptoed over to the set of bunk beds that held Weiss' bed, along with her own. She quickly climbed the ladder and slipped under the covers, shutting her eyes and replaying the event in her mind, before finally drifting off to sleep.

* * *

**Boom. That just happened. I think we've all read enough fanfiction to know where this is going. Sorry this chapter is a tad shorter, but it would've been way too long had I combined again, not to mention it ends right where I want it to. Anywho, keep it real people. And keep fighting the good fight, interfectores. ~ Tor**


	5. Chapter 5

**Many weeks later.**

"Okay team CPER, time to wake up!" shouted an overly cheery voice, waking up the three other members of her team.

"Can it, Liz." Paige retorted, placing a pillow over her face.

"Don't make me have to yell." Roy threatened.

"Do we even have school today?" Cooper asked, picking out his dark red uniform.

"Nope. But we do have our team practice." Liz replied.

"That isn't until three. It's eight a.m. Liz." Paige pointed out.

"Breakfast is an important part of any day." Roy stated.

"So is sleep!" Paige yelled back, but far too awake now to sleep.

"Breakfast will take about an hour. That would leave us with six hours of free time. How do you propose we spend those?" Cooper asked, heading into the bathroom for a shower.

"Oh. Uh. Socializing?" Liz replied, obviously not having thought out this part of her plan out.

"I hate socializing!" yelled an irate Paige.

"Society hates you too, Sleeping Beauty." Roy retorted.

"I will seriously hurt you." she threatened in return.

"Do it." he mocked. So she punched him in the stomach.

"OK. You were serious." he wheezed, holding his injured midsection.

"Yes I was. Now move." she replied, shoving him out of the way.

"Don't take it too hard. She probably really likes you, deep down. Really, really deep down." Liz attempted to cheer up the still gasping Roy.

"I will be dead before the end of this year." was his response.

"Roy, I'm sure you'll be fine. Probably." Cooper added.

"Thanks for the pep talk, coach." Roy replied, getting his breathing back under control.

"Here to help." Cooper responded, strapping on Umbra.

"Why're you bringing your sword? We're going to be socializing, not hunting." Liz pointed out.

"I feel more comfortable with it." was the only answer she got.

Quite a few minutes later, team CPER left their dorm, only to walk straight into team JNPR, who was heading to the training grounds.

"Oh, hello Jaune." Roy said, holding out his hand.

"Oh, uh, hey Roy." the blonde knight replied, shaking hands.

"Headin' out to train, eh shield brother?" Roy asked.

"We need to learn to work as a cohesive unit." Pyrrha commented.

"Smash all the things!" shouted an excited Nora, earning a chuckle from everyone.

"That's cool. Catch you later." Paige remarked, storming off, followed by the rest of her team.

"What's up with you?" Liz asked after they had walked away from JNPR.

"Something felt wrong. I followed my gut and here we are." Paige replied, walking into an open room.

"What could possibly be wrong? This is the safest school in all the-" Liz quickly cut herself off, seeing something that should never be seen by human eyes.

It was professor Port. Dancing. With Glynda. The sight almost made the team gag, but they instead chose to run out, making it as far away as possible from the scene.

"Well, you were right. Something was definitely wrong." Liz gasped out, still trying to control her breathing.

"By the all the gods, I can never unsee that." Cooper said, hugging himself.

"I will always be scarred. Grimm Studies will never be the same." Roy added.

"What happened to you guys?" asked a voice from behind them, belonging to a certain redhead.

"You don't want to know." Cooper replied, stumbling up to her and looking her in the eyes.

"Is there a problem? Are you sick?" she questioned, grabbing onto his shoulders.

"We're all going to be pretty soon." Roy commented, grabbing onto his stomach.

"What is it? An epidemic?" she inquired, still looking into Cooper's eyes.

"Worse. So much worse." Paige commented, laying down.

"Grimm in the school? Should I go alert Goodwitch?" Ruby asked, much to the horror of the others.

"No! Gods above no." Cooper shuddered at the thought.

"Just give us some time. What has been seen cannot be unseen." Liz replied, standing up.

"What did you see?" Ruby implored, looking at the distraught team.

"If you really need to know, go left then go down to room 43. Take a right, then travel down to the end of the hall. Open the door. But I am begging you, don't." Cooper replied, feeling the girl slip his grip and dash off anyways.

"Oh gods." he muttered, waiting for her return. He didn't have to wait long, fairly soon after she left she returned, her eyes looking empty.

"They were...why were they...?" she couldn't finish her sentences, the horror of the scene too much for her. She had seen something much worse than the people before her had, Port and Goodwitch had progressed, kissing whilst moving to musical beats.

"Hey now, come here." Cooper said, letting the redhead fall into his hug.

"I don't think she saw what we saw." Roy noted, seeing the look on Ruby's face.

"What did you see, Ruby?" Cooper asked, whispering the question in her ear.

"They were kissing." she whispered back, her voice hoarse. His eyes widened, then his grip tightened.

"Oh gods Ruby, I'm so sorry." he replied, then he felt the girl go limp.

"Did she just faint?" Liz asked.

"I think so. I'll carry her back to her dorm, hopefully someone else is there. You guys go claim a table in the cafeteria." Cooper ordered, picking up his unconscious friend bridal style.

"Don't have too much fun while you're there." Paige said, winking at him. She only got a glare in return.

The walk back to Ruby's dorm was uneventful, everyone either practicing or sleeping. When he arrived, he realized he had no way to knock conventionally, so he banged his head against the door a few times. It had the desired effect.

"Yes?" he heard a voice ask as the door opened. The now open door revealed that it was Yang who had answered.

"The hell did you do to her?" she questioned in an accusatory tone.

"Nothing. She saw something that shocked her a bit too much. I'll explain once we get her to her bed." he replied, forcing his way past the irate brawler. Realizing that their bed set up was far different than his own, he realized getting her to her bed would be more problematic than he had originally thought.

"How're you gonna do that, hot shot?" she asked him, seeing him stare at the beds.

"Like this." he replied. Then Ruby started to float, drifting towards her bed. She reached it quickly and was placed down gently, the covers rising to her shoulders afterwards.

"That was a thing." Yang remarked, not sure how to handle the situation.

"Yes, now, would you like an explanation, or are you just going to stare at me?" he asked, pulling up a chair.

"Tell me everything." she replied, sitting down across from him.

The explanation didn't take long, but it wasn't pretty.

"So they were...?"

"Yes." he replied.

"I can how that would shock Ruby." Yang commented.

"Yeah. She took it pretty roughly. She should be fine though. I should probably get to my team before they get any wrong ideas though." Cooper responded, getting up.

"Actually, could you stay with her? I need to make up some stuff in Oobleck's class. It would really help." she implored.

"Well, I guess. But could you go yell at my team for me? They might start to get a false sense of freedom if they go without me for too long." Cooper said, sitting back down.

"Great. I like yelling at Roy. He get's this weird look on his face, then his head drops and his face turns red." Yang responded, strapping on her footwear.

"Really? He just smiles when I yell at him." Cooper commented, picking out a book from the shelves. It was called "Ninjas of Love."

"Weird. Anyways, thanks for this Cooper." she called back, dashing out the door.

"No problem I guess." he muttered, opening up to the first page of the book. It was certainly going to be an interesting read.

A while later, Blake walked in, stopping when she saw Cooper.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, more curious than angry.

"Watching Ruby apparently. And reading." he replied, lifting the book so Blake could see the title. She did.

"Where did you get that?" she inquired, and blush forming on her face.

"On the shelves. It's quite interesting really. The bond they form, even though they're on separate sides in the war is quite admirable." he replied, enjoying her discomfort.

"Wait, you're focusing on that?" she questioned.

"Well I mean, those certain scenes aren't all that bad, but the story is quite interesting." he responded, getting back to the book.

"Finally someone who understands!" she exclaimed, startling him.

"What?" he asked, lowering the book to look at the girl.

"Most people just see those books and see guilty pleasure rather than a good story line." she clarified.

"Ah. Yes well it is a good book." he replied.

"I know. The main characters really grip you." she added.

"And I will continue to read it." he responded, waiting for her to catch on.

"By all means go right on ahead. If you need to borrow it I wont mind." she commented.

"As soon as you leave." he finally just decided to be blunt about it.

She sat there, stunned. He had just pulled one of her own moves on her. She had just been Blake'd.

"Oh, right. Well I'll be off then." she said, walking out the door.

No one came for a while after that visit, leaving Cooper to his book and Ruby to her nearly endless slumber. He finished it after a while, not too happy with the ending. No one likes sad endings. He wasn't bored for too long, however. Soon after he finished, he heard a small yawn, indicating that Ruby had finally awoken.

"Good afternoon, Ruby." he said, startling the still sleepy redhead.

"Cooper? What're you doing here?" she asked in a groggy tone, jumping down from her bed.

"Watching over you, apparently. I was persuaded by a certain blonde you might know." he replied, getting her a glass of milk.

"Yang asked you to look over me? What was she doing?" she inquired taking the glass with a nod.

"She had something to make up in Oobleck's." he answered, taking his seat.

"What about you?" she questioned, taking a seat for herself.

"The only thing I had planned for today was team practice, and that isn't until three." he responded, checking the time. It was only two.

"Oh. So what're you going to do now?" she asked.

"I don't know. I suppose you don't need to me watch over you now, and my team is probably either worried or burning down the school." he replied.

"Oh. OK." she said, sounding more than a little dejected.

"I should probably get back to them." he continued, sitting up and walking to the door.

"Cooper, wait." came a small voice from behind him.

"What's up?" he asked, turning back around to see Ruby standing right in front of him.

"Are we ever going to talk?" she inquired, looking into his eyes.

"About what?" questioned, feeling pretty confused.

"About that night." she replied, looking down a bit.

"Oh. Right. Uh, I dunno. If you want to, I guess." he responded, feeling more than a little uncomfortable. She just nodded grabbed his hand, dragging him back to the table.

"So what happened?" she asked, putting it plainly as they took their respective seats.

"Well, from what I remember, you tried to give me your cloak. So I tried to put it back on you, leaning a bit close to see the knot I was making. You were pushing on my shoulders the whole time. Your hands probably slipped, causing you to fall forward. We both know what happened after that." He replied.

"Right. But, why didn't you pull away?" she inquired leaning over the table a bit.

"I dunno. Why didn't you?" he asked in return.

"Not fair. I asked you first." she responded.

"Well then. I guess I was just pretty shocked by the whole thing. It was certainly an unexpected turn of events." he replied.

"I guess." she said.

"Your turn to answer." he noted, leaning back in his chair.

"Uh, I guess I was pretty shocked too. I definitely wasn't expecting it." she replied, using the cautious answer.

"Well then there you have. An accident." he said, preparing to leave once more.

"Right. An accident." she sighed.

"So if that's all, I'll be heading off now." Cooper said, standing up once more.

"Right. Thanks for watching out for me." she replied, still focusing on her milk.

"Not a problem. Anytime." he responded, walking out the door.

It was a few minutes before he realized he had left his trench coat in Ruby's dorm, rushing back to gather it once he did. He opened the door and saw something he most certainly did not expect. Ruby was crying.

"Ruby? Everything alright?" he asked, stepping into the room and closing the door.

She quickly turned and locked eyes with him. She didn't say anything she just stared, waiting for his reaction. She didn't have to wait long. She felt herself get lifted out of her seat, then fly into his arms.

"Hey there. What're you crying for?" he asked once more, wrapping his arms around the girl.

"I don't want it to just be an accident." she sobbed out, letting her tears flow out into his shoulder. He stood there, stunned.

He leaned down, just enough to whisper in her ear.

"Can I tell you a secret?" he asked, feeling her nod.

"I don't either." he continued, feeling her stiffen up at his words.

"Really?" she asked, whispering in his ear, the same way he did to her.

"Really." he replied, squeezing her a slight bit tighter.

"Then now what?" she whispered.

"I don't know. This is my first time ever, uh, I don't really know what to call this. But it's my first. Haven't exactly had much time to myself, remember?" he said, pushing her back just enough to look into her eyes.

"Right. Sorry." she replied, staring into his deep blue eyes.

"Don't be." he responded, drawing her back into the hug.

"Can I see them again?" she asked. He know what she was talking about, and he obliged, taking off his currently red beanie. His white ears came out to greet the world once more.

She quickly started to pet them again, putting a feeling of deep relaxation into Cooper's body. Pretty soon he reached that point again, a soft purr emitting from him. His hands immediately went to cover his mouth, but Ruby just giggled, reminding him that he was safe.

So he let it out, the vibrations coming from his chest were soothing to Ruby, relaxing even. And so they stayed like that for quite a while, just enjoying the company of the other. Then Cooper just happened to glance the clock, it read two fifty-five. He bolted up, startling Ruby and nearly falling off her bed.

"Sorry Ruby, but I need to go. Team practice is in five minutes." he explained as he grabbed his beanie, shoving it over his head and dashing out the door.

He made it just in time, the clock striking three right as he entered the arena.

"Where were you?" Liz asked as he entered.

"Watching over Ruby." he replied.

"For six hours? Did you even eat?" Paige questioned.

"Yes and yes. Now, I've thought up some moves that we need to test out to see if they are even probable." he responded, stepping into the middle of the arena.

"Idea number one being?" Roy inquired, preparing his sword and shield.

"You'll only need your shield for this one. And your voice." Cooper said.

"Now, here's the idea. Liz, you're going to jump onto Roy's shield as he raises it above his head. Then, he's going to lower it and shout. You're going to travel within the vortex of the force he unleashes, allowing you to attain great speeds and power." he explained.

"Is that even possible?" Paige asked.

"We're about to find out." Cooper replied.

They plan took a few tries before it was able to be done, and quite a few more attempts after that to gain the maximum distance.

"Now that we've got a general idea of the range and the mobility of Liz within the vortex, let's try it out on a target." Cooper said, bringing a target over.

"Damn dude, that's a pretty cool move you came up with." Roy commented, stretching out his shoulders.

"I have to admit, going through the vortex is pretty fun." Liz added, giving Roy a high-five.

"How well do your daggers pierce?" Cooper asked.

"They'll sink down to the hilt on most targets." Liz replied.

"Good. Aim for the vital areas." He ordered, stepping away from the target.

"Roy, you holding up alright?" Cooper inquired.

"A bit tired, but I'll be fine." his friend replied, readying his shield.

They tried it the first time, and Liz smacked right into the target, falling to the ground.

They tried it a bit further back and were met with better results, her daggers stabbing very near the vital areas. After a few more attempts, she hid the areas impeccably, from both far away and up close.

"Now that we have the move down, tell me your Aura colors." Cooper said.

"Green." Roy replied.

"Gold." Liz said.

"Good, we'll that call that move Paradise. Now for me and Paige's move. First things first, Paige, are your bullets physical or Aura shots?" Cooper asked, turning to his auburn-haired friend.

"Physical." she replied, splitting her staff into it's dual pistol form.

"Shoot one bullet." he ordered. She obliged and shot, the bullet stopping about a foot away from the barrel.

"Good. I have decent control over it. Now we need to see how much force I can put behind it." Cooper noted, the bullet dashing through the target dummy in multiple places.

"Good. Now for the move. Here's the plan, Paige, I'll force you into the center of the enemy, you'll shoot one bullet per each human enemy, and if the enemy is Grimm, shoot to kill. If it gets dicey, I'll pull you out. " Cooper explained, the idea basic enough.

"Alright. You don't seem to do much during this however." Paige noted.

"It'll be difficult enough to keep a link around you, and the strain will only be exacerbated if I have to direct your bullets to disarm rather than kill." Cooper replied.

"True enough. Killing other classmates is usually frowned upon." Paige agreed.

"Now time to practice it." Cooper said, dragging over more targets, forming a loose circle with them.

Paige got prepped and reloaded her pistols, waiting to be pushed into the center. She counted her enemies, seven in total. All she had to do was shoot seven bullets, each one somewhat aimed that their target.

She shot forward, unleashing the necessary amount of bullets, watching them stop right before the throats of the dummies.

"Impressive." Paige noted.

"Difficult." Cooper responded, letting the bullets drop.

"I'm red, by the way." Paige said, giving him her Aura color.

"Good. We'll call that Blood." Cooper replied, walking back over to the other pair.

"Liz, Roy, this one's on you. I'm calling it opposites attract. It's a crowd control manuever. You'll both go on opposites sides and fight your way to each other, effective cutting the enemy in half. Once you meet each other, I'll get you out of there. Only really works on people though. Grimm are too unpredictable." Cooper explained, drawing it out in the dirt.

"Smart." Roy commented.

"I try. Next up is Dragonfire. It's only used against four opponents, a specialization move. This one'll be Paige and Liz. Liz, you'll go up first, throwing your knives and disarming the first two people. Paige, you'll slide between her legs and shoot the two weapons out the their respective owner's hands, effectively rendering a team useless." Cooper said.

"This one'll take some practice." Liz noted.

"Yeah. And why do I have to slide?" Paige asked.

"It looks cooler with guns." Cooper shrugged, clearing a practice area.

"It's true." Roy added. The two girls ignored him, taking their places.

"Liz, it'll be better if you start off running. It'd be more realistic." Cooper pointed out.

She obliged, stepping back a few feet to start her run. She took off, Paige following close behind. She came to a grinding stop a few feet away from the first two targets, throwing her knives right where their weapons would be. Paige slide under her not a second later, shooting at the other two targets, her bullets flying inches away from their front, where their weapons would be.

"Excellent. You both have a natural feel for motion." Cooper praised, moving onto the next move.

"Now, I like this one. It'll really blow your mind." Cooper said, a smile stretching itself across his face.

"Roy, you and I will combine forces, quite literally. You'll shout, and I'll add as much force as I can to it. Hopefully it'll be pretty powerful." Cooper finished.

"I'm already liking this." Roy replied, readying himself.

Cooper set up a long row of targets, all stacked up on each other.

"Ready?" Cooper asked, standing next to Roy.

"You know it." Roy responded. Cooper closed his eyes, waiting for the sound trigger. Roy gave it, a wave of force expanding from his mouth. Cooper's eyes opened, black once more. A sudden wave of force joined Roy's, the two combining and hitting the targets, sending them to the opposite wall, and through it.

"Whoa." was all Roy could get out.

"Good. It works. That one's called 'gone with the wind'. It's a personal favorite." Cooper added.

"It's certainly impressive." Liz commented.

"Yes. Now, for my emergency back up. I call it Sunfire." Cooper continued.

"Sounds catchy." Paige noted.

"It's simple enough really, we just take out the lights and let me take them out." Cooper said.

"But how will you see?" Liz asked, pointing out an obvious flaw.

"Ah yes. Time you all saw something that stays strictly within this team. At least, I hope it will." Cooper said, reaching a hand to his beanie and lifting it. The rest of his sat stunned, for there on his head were two little white ears, wiggling to remove the tension in them.

"You have cat ears?" Roy asked.

"Obviously. And to go along with them, night vision. The main reason Sunfire will work." Cooper continued.

"Well then. I guess it's a good plan." Liz commented, still staring at the ears.

"I thought so. That's all I've got for moves, so unless anyone else has anything to contribute, training is complete for today." Cooper called out, looking around.

"One thing." Liz said, drawing everyone's eyes.

"Yes?" Cooper asked.

"I was just wondering..." Liz trailed off.

"Wondering?" Cooper implored her to continue.

"Can I pet them?" she blurted out, covering her mouth after she did so. Cooper stood there, a little shocked more than anything.

"I guess." he replied, turning around so she could get a better angle. She walked up and reached out her hands, gingerly touching the ears.

"There so soft." she whispered, rubbing them between her fingers.

"Like, finely combed Ursa skin rug soft, or bunny fur soft?" Roy asked.

"Come feel for yourself." she responded, still marveling over the ears.

Roy did just that, gently rubbing the other ear.

"That is pretty soft." he admitted.

"Yes they're soft. Is that all?" Cooper asked, standing impatiently.

"Not yet. I haven't gotten to feel them." Paige complained.

"Sorry, I'll move." Liz offered, stepping back, allowing Paige unrestricted access to the newest attraction.

She walked up and placed a hand on the ear.

"Wow. That is really soft." Paige noted.

"Yes, now you've all had a chance to repeat exactly what the others said, would you mind stopping?" Cooper implored.

"Sorry." Roy apologized, stepping back.

"Too good of an opportunity to pass up." Paige replied, also stepping back.

"Now that we've all come closer as a team, I will be leaving." Cooper announced, replacing his beanie and walking out, leaving his team in the stadium.

* * *

**K-kawaii. Sup mortals, I'm here with this thing, obviously. Shoutout to sidewalks, for keeping me off the street. I haven't got much to say actually, just keep being awesome. Any and almost all feedback would be much appreciated, so yeah. Anywho, keep fighting the good fight, infectores.**


	6. Chapter 6

Cooper had planned on a stress relieving walk to clear his mind, but Fate was a cruel mistress, and he soon stumbled upon a scene that made his blood boil.

"What's the matter, Jauney-boy? Not feeling like fighting anymore?" asked a rather grating voice that Cooper recognized as Cardin's.

"Cardin. I suggest you stop." Cooper said, raising his hand and forming a pistol with his fingers.

Cardin and his gang turned around, only to see one person with a finger pistol. They burst out laughing.

"And what're you planning to do with that?" Cardin asked, grabbing his stomach.

"This." Cooper replied, 'shooting' the pistol and sending Cardin through a wall. He raised his other hand and pointed his two 'guns' at Dove and Sky.

"It'd be better for you if you left." Cooper suggested. They took off, sprinting down the nearest corridor. He pretended to spin his pistols and blow off the tops, re-enacting an old western movie scene he'd recently watched.

"C'mon Jaune, up you go." Cooper said, reaching out his hand to the knight.

"Thanks Cooper." Jaune replied, standing up an dusting himself off.

"Why didn't you deal with them like I showed you?" Cooper asked.

"Didn't want to get in trouble." the knight responded.

"Pfft, the teachers would probably throw you a party. Nobody likes those guys." Cooper commented.

"And Jaune, if anyone asks, you did this." Cooper added.

"Putting the blame on me, eh?" Jaune asked, smiling.

"No no no. Think about, the school would go crazy. I can see it now. 'Underwhelming knight Jaune Arc defeats Cardin Winchester and sends his goons running.'" Cooper said, wrapping and arm around Jaune's shoulder and gesturing elaborately with the other.

"I don't think that's how it'll go." Jaune doubted.

"Please, you'll be drowning in girls by this time tomorrow." Cooper replied, releasing his friend.

"Here's hoping." Jaune said in return, walking back to his dorm.

Cooper returned to his walk, glad he could help out his friend. He knew what it was to be on the other end of a sword, and it was nice to be wielding it. He continued on his walk for quite a few, too wrapped up in his thoughts to be notice where he was heading. That was until he stumbled into a certain white-haired heiress.

"Watch where you're- oh Cooper. Sorry, I didn't see you there." Weiss cut herself off, choosing to be kinder to him than she would normally be, for reasons unknown.

"I should be the one apologizing, Weiss. It seems I was too wrapped up in the past to notice the present." Cooper replied, albeit rather cryptically.

"Anything specific?" the heiress asked.

"Nothing I'd wish to burden you with." Cooper responded.

"Sounds like you need to talk about it." Weiss commented.

"Mayhaps, but not the moment. For now, the beast will be contained within my memories." Cooper replied, once again using mystery to his advantage.

"Do you ever speak normally?" Weiss inquired.

"Rarely. I tried it once, it didn't really suit me." Cooper said.

"I can see that. Well, if you don't mind, I have somewhere to be." Weiss announced.

"By all means, go forth. Do not allow me to hinder you." Cooper responded, stepping to the side. She quickly sped off, wishing to make haste yet retain her regality simultaneously.

As she left his sight, he let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. It was always difficult trying to come up with more fancy words to confuse the heiress. It had been a running joke of his, his own way of making fun of her 'holier than thou' personality.

He was about to start off once more, when he had yet another interruption, though this one he didn't as much.

"Cooper?" Ruby asked, walking out of her dorm.

"Heya Ruby." he replied, wrapping up the redhead in a hug.

"Happy to see me?" she inquired, returning the hug.

"Do I have any reason to not be?" he questioned, releasing her.

"I suppose not." she acquiesced.

"What's up, Red?" he asked, knowing she didn't walk out for no reason.

"I was going to see if you guys had finished practice, which you obviously have." she answered.

"Yeah. We came up with some new moves. And I'm pretty sure CRDL will want a fight now. Revenge is a great motivator." he said, once again confusing the recipient of his words.

"Revenge?" she asked, crossing her arms in an accusatory fashion.

"Hey, don't give me that look. I was just walking by when I saw Jaune beat the tar out of Cardin and his gang. As Dove, Sky, and the other one took off, they probably heard me laughing." Cooper explained, already spreading the story.

"That's a nice story, but what's the truth?" the redhead asked, seeing right through the facade.

"I saw Jaune having some trouble so I put Cardin through a wall and threatened the other three." Cooper answered, truthfully this time.

"Better. And thanks for looking out for him. I know he can help himself, but he's too nice." Ruby commented, thinking about her blonde friend.

"I know, but it was pretty fun." Cooper replied, reliving the moment.

"Fun? Are you sure you're not crazy?" Ruby asked, smiling.

"Not really." he responding, reciprocating her smile.

"So what's the plan?" she inquired.

"Dunno. But when night finally falls, there is something I want to show you." he answered.

"Is it cookies?" she asked, her eyes lighting up.

"No, but those could possibly be incorporated." he replied, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her along as he walked.

"Where are we going?" she inquired.

"No clue."

They pair eventually found themselves in the lounge area of the school, a relatively small room compared to the size of the others, but rather cozy. In the center of the room sat a fireplace, crackling and spitting out flames.

"It appears we have stumbled upon the lounge." commented a rather unimpressed Cooper.

"So we have." replied Ruby, who was still thinking of what Cooper might want to show her.

"Would you care to take a break, m'lady?" asked Cooper, mock bowing to the redhead.

"I do believe I would, thank you." she responded in the fanciest way she could think, walking towards the nearest chair.

"Splendid." came Cooper's reply, also taking a chair.

They sat across from each other, the fireplace in the middle of the pair.

"So what's up?" Cooper asked, dropping the act.

"Just thinking." Ruby answered, staring into the flames as if they could answer her questions.

"About?" he implored her to elaborate.

"Stuff." she replied, a small smile gracing her features.

"Ah yes. I myself often think about stuff. I find it to be rather important. Stuff can change everything." Cooper said, still prodding her to continue.

"Just wondering what you're gonna show me." she admitted.

"Ah. Makes sense I suppose. One could only be curious if they were told that someone planned to show them something and one did not know what it was that was going to shown." Cooper replied, phrasing it as complicatedly as he could.

"Uh, yes?" Ruby responded, pretty confused by his wording.

He just laughed a deep laugh and laid back in the plush chair, closing his eyes momentarily. He let them stay closed for a tad too long, however. He soon found himself asleep, or rather, he drifted off into it.

"Cooper?" Ruby asked, seeing her friend start to slump, not taking too long to realize he had fallen asleep. She couldn't think of a better way to pass the time, so she made herself comfortable within her own chair, curling up and leaning her head on the armrest.

Try as she might, she could not get comfortable. Something just felt like it was missing. So she did the only thing she could think of. She walked up to Cooper's chair and snuggled up into his chest, already infinitely more comfortable. Sleep soon fell upon her, the sound of his heart beating her lullaby.

Cooper awoke quite a while later, if the lack of light from the windows was to be trusted. He looked down to see Ruby with her head on his chest, cuddled up into his side. He couldn't help it, he smiled. He briefly pondered getting up, but when a sleeping Ruby snuggled up even closer, that idea was quickly shot down.

The next thought that popped into his mind was how he was going to pass the time until Ruby woke up. He didn't have to wait long though, she awoke not too soon after he did.

"Comfortable?" he asked.

"You have no idea." she replied, not budging an inch. Not that he minded.

"Sleep well?" he inquired.

"As always. But did you?" she asked in return, looking up to look him in the eyes.

"Yes, actually. I had a pleasant dream about shadows dancing with their owners. It was odd, but fun." he continued.

"That does sound pretty weird." Ruby noted.

"Now that it's night, time to get this show on the road." Cooper stated, pushing her slightly to indicate she should move. She did, allowing him to get up and stretch.

"Where to?" she questioned.

"This way." he replied, taking her hand and bolting off.

It wasn't long before Ruby realized where she was being dragged to, the ladder coming into view not long after her realization.

"The roof?" Ruby asked.

"No Ruby, this is the ladder to the basement." came Cooper's sarcastic reply, already climbing the ladder.

She just smiled and began her own ascent, climbing the ladder as swiftly as possible. She reached the top and saw that Cooper had already laid down, gazing at the stars. She walked up laid down beside him, snuggling up into his side, his arm moving behind her neck.

"You wanted to show me the stars?" she asked.

"No, but they do look lovely." he replied, opening up one of his pouches. Small gray orbs floated out, tons of them lifting up to stop a few feet above the pair's heads.

"What are they?" Ruby inquired, staring at the small spheres.

"Light orbs." he answered, and suddenly they lit up, each one a different color. Then they started moving, intricate patterns and spirals moving about before her, the waves of colors astounding her.

They stayed like that for over an hour, the orbs flying about, forming elaborate patterns and constellations in front the pair, Cooper concentrating hard to make sure they didn't drop.

The first one dropped about five minutes past an hour. The others started to fall soon after, his concentration finally lapsing.

"Sorry, but I can't keep going." Cooper apologized, storing the orbs back in his pouch.

"That was beautiful." she whispered, still gazing up.

"I had hoped you would say that." he replied, propping himself up on an elbow to see her face batter. They were only inches apart.

"Where did you get those?" she asked, gazing into his blue eyes.

"I picked 'em up last time I went shopping alone." he answered.

"It looked like you'd done that before." she noted.

"I may or may not have practiced for many nights." he responded. There was only silence after that, the pair just staring into each other's eyes, marveling at the depth. It was after a couple minutes of this when Ruby leaned herself up on an elbow, further closing the gap between the pair.

No words needed to be said, each knew what the other wanted. And thus, their lips met, this time on purpose. They went for as along as they could, which wasn't very long, but they enjoyed the moment.

"So does this mean we're dating?" Cooper asked, phrasing it about as bluntly as he could.

"I hope so." she replied, wrapping him up in a hug.

"I guess that's a yes." he said, returning the hug with much gusto, bringing her as close as humanly possible. She then proceeded to bury her face into the crook of his neck, each of them breathing in the scent of the other. Ruby smelled of roses (obviously), and Cooper smelled of white chocolate (which was pretty weird).

"How'd you get the white chocolate smell?" she asked, not moving from her current comfortable position.

"I'm not actually sure. It may have something to do with my aura though." he answered, flaring it up. The potency of the smell increased, thereby concluding that the smell was indeed connected with his aura.

"I like it." Ruby commented, taking a deep breath.

"Me too. Yours is alright." he replied, grinning. She lightly punched him, her own mouth struggling against her iron control of it.

"That's not exactly something your supposed to say to your girlfriend."

"True enough, perhaps. Mayhaps I should instead compliment the beauty of your eyes." he responded, pushing her back just far enough to gaze into her silver orbs.

"Yours are okay." she sighed, her smile contradicting her tone.

"I can't let that one slide." he replied, a sly smile crossing his features.

"And just what are you planning to do?" she teased, raising an eyebrow.

"This." at that, he dove his fingers into her ribs, wiggling them about, sending her into a frenzy.

"Y-you better stop that." she threatened as he tickled her, her breath coming out in ragged gasps.

"Or?" he asked, the sly smile still on his face.

"Or I'll have to do the same!" she exclaimed, returning his attack. And the two tickle-fought for many minutes, laughs and threats being thrown out as the battle raged on. Eventually, it was Ruby who won, Cooper finally giving in after a long, hard battle.

"Victory is yours." he said, laying spread eagle on the roof. Ruby just cuddled up to his side, placing her head on his chest. Both of them felt the day's activities wearing down on them, their energy finally hitting low.

"We should probably get inside, sleeping on a roof isn't exactly comfortable." Cooper noted, his voice only a whisper.

"But you're just so comfortable." Ruby replied, strengthening her hold on him.

"Can't argue with you there. I often find myself wishing I could snuggle up with me." he responded, wrapping an arm around her.

"I can somehow see that."

"Can you now? Is it a fantasy of yours?" he asked.

"And if it is?" she asked in return, turning her head enough to look him in the eyes.

"Then I'll need a clone." he answered, his eyes locking with hers.

"That would be a sight to see."

"Yes it would. I wonder which us would win in a fight." Cooper pondered, eyes staring into the infinite reaches of the stars.

"As in you and me? We've already decided that one." Ruby commented.

"I meant me and my clone. If we had the same moves and mind, we'd never be able to win. We would always come to a draw." Cooper continued, his brows furrowing as he pondered upon the the nonexistent issue.

"I don't think you should be focusing on that when you're in the presence of a beautiful girl." Ruby said.

"Oh? Did someone walk up here?" he asked, his sly smile returning as Ruby punched him once more, this time not so lightly.

"That was uncalled for." she pouted, crossing her arms and sitting up.

"I know." he whispered, embracing the woman of his affections and placing a light kiss on her cheek. She slowly returned the hug, once again nuzzling into the side of his neck, breathing in his delicious scent.

Slowly they returned to their laid down positions, their eyes closing as sleep overwhelmed them.

**In the morning**

Ruby and Cooper woke up simultaneously due to both of their scrolls going off. They quickly checked them and say they had a message from Ozpin.

_Dear Teams RWBY and CPER,_

_Come to my office at 10. There are urgent matters we must discuss._

_From, Ozpin_

"I suppose we should go wake up our teams." Cooper said. Ruby quickly got up so he could do the same, stretching so as to remove the stiffness that sleeping on a roof had brought.

"I guess I'll see you later." Ruby replied, planting a light kiss on his lips before dashing down the ladder to her dorm.

Cooper followed soon after, choosing a brisk walk to get to his dorm. He arrived not but five minutes later, strolling in as he took in the room's state.

Everything was as it should be, everyone was asleep on their respective beds. And so, Cooper did what any sane man would do. He yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Good morning Team CPER!" he yelled out, everyone awakening at the same time, thrashing about.

"I hate you so much." Paige said, sitting up.

"I second that notion." Roy added, trying to pull back the covers that had been dragged off his bed.

"Good morning, Cooper." Liz greeted, the only one who didn't hate mornings.

"Everyone needs to get ready quickly. We've been asked to report to Ozpin's office at 10." Cooper announced.

"What for?" Roy asked, curiosity overwhelming the desire to sleep.

"No idea, but it's got to be important." Cooper replied, getting out his green outfit.

"Damn well better be." Paige muttered, stomping into the restroom.

Team CPER had finished getting ready by nine fifty, walking out of their dorm with both excitement and curiosity. They quickly walked over to Ozpin's office, knocking ever so lightly.

"Come in." came the sound of Ozpin's voice, and they obliged.

As they entered, they saw that Team RWBY had already sat down.

"Morning, RWBY." Liz chirped.

"Morning, CPER." Yang replied.

"I don't mean to be rude sir, but what exactly is the problem?" Cooper asked, wasting no time with pleasantries.

"Down to business immediately I see. One of our sister facilities has been overrun. The reports say the White Fang has taken control of it. Normally, we would have the army clean up this mess, but there has been trouble on the borders lately, and they can spare no men."

"So you need us to clean them out?" Roy inquired.

"Precisely. Do so in any manner you see fit." Ozpin replied.

"Do we know the number of hostiles?" Cooper questioned.

"No. Only that they are heavily armed."

"That could be a problem, but Team CPER accepts." came Cooper's reply.

"As does Team RWBY." Ruby added.

"Good, an airship will take you as near to the facility as possible. Please be careful." Ozpin pleaded.

"With all due respect sir, you don't need to worry. We're gonna kick ass." Paige said, bringing a smile to the headmaster's face.

They landed only thirty minutes after their talk with Ozpin, everyone preparing for what was sure to be a tough battle.

"Everyone ready?" Cooper asked, at the front of the group.

"Aye." came Roy's reply.

"Good. Let's do this quickly and efficiently. I will not accept any casualties." Cooper replied, starting to walk towards the group of buildings.

When they reached the compound, it appeared to be empty, but they heard lots of voices coming from the main building. As they approached, the voices grew loud enough for Cooper to hear.

"Are you prepared, my brothers and sisters, to take back what is ours?" asked a voice that Cooper didn't know.

The only reply was a loud yell, the audience getting fired up.

"It sounds like some sort of battle speech." Cooper noted.

"How many?" Ruby asked, walking by his side.

"Hard to tell. Their voices echoed, but I'd have to say at least sixty." he answered, readying his mind.

"That's a lot of people, even for us." Yang commented, loading Ember Celica.

"Not a problem." Roy said, confidence radiating from him.

"Alright Roy, as soon as I open the door, let's take 'em to the cinema." Cooper replied, confusing RWBY, but Roy understood.

Cooper kicked the door open with as much force as he could muster, but the sight he saw shocked him for a second. There definitely sixty people there, but it didn't stop at that number. There had to be at least two hundred, all packed together in the building.

"Now Roy!" Cooper exclaimed, his friend unleashing the full force of his voice as he added even more force to it. The middle of the group was thrown into the opposite wall, leaving the left and right sides stunned. The two teams needed no communication, each knew which side to take.

Team CPER took the left, fighting furiously as their opponents tried to arm themselves. The battle was rough after they did so, overwhelming number trumping superior fighting styles. Soon, both teams were back to the entrance, worn down as the fight took it's toll on them. They had managed to thin the White Fang's numbers to seventy, but they were well armed and well trained.

"Retreat! Everyone retreat!" Cooper shouted, and the two teams complied, slowly walking put the door into the open air. Cooper was about to follow them when his perfect defense was breached, a sword going deep into his stomach.

Everything seemed to slow down as he looked down to the stick of metal that had gone through him. He knew he onldy had one way of making it out of this building.

_Omega, it's time._

_Took you long enough. So who do I get to kill?_

_Only the ones with the White Fang emblem. The other's are under my protection._

_Got it. You wont regret this decision._

And so Cooper gave control over to the beast that lurked inside him, feeling his own mind slip into the background as Omega took control.

Ruby hadn't heard more footsteps behind her, so she looked to see what was keeping Cooper. That's when she saw the sword go into him, watching as he looked down, closing his eyes. She was about to run back for him before she saw a sight that made her scared. More scared than she had ever been.

Cooper had started laughing, a deep laugh of pure enjoyment.

"Finally I get to have some fun!" she heard Cooper call out, a sinister smile on his face.

"Cooper?" she asked, her voice only a whisper, but he heard it. His head swiveled aroud, locking onto her eyes, his were pure black, not just the iris.

"Sorry Red, but right now, I've got the reins on this body. It's too bad he wont let me feast on you too, you look delicious." he replied, licking his lips as he did so.

She just stood there, completely shocked, and far more than a little scared. That's when a rocket came barreling towards him.

She was about to scream, but it stopped inches away from him.

"I was having a nice chat, assholes!" Omega exclaimed, silver light flaring up around as the rocket flew into the crowd, killing many.

"Now it's dinnertime." Omega added in a sinister tone, licking up the blood that was already on Umbra. What came next couldn't even be counted as battle. It was annihilation. No hits landed on Omega, but Umbra dealt strikes faster than the eyes could follow, only stopping when he paused to lick up the blood on the blade.

The slaughter was over in minutes, Omega licking up the last of the blood on Umbra, seemingly enjoying every drop.

Both teams just stared in horror as what used to be their leader drank the blood, some of it dripping onto his chin and clothes.

"That was so much fun. I wish I could play you people too, but Cooper's insisting that I don't, so I wont. Still though, you all look so delicious." Omega said,wiping up the blood on his chin and finger, then placing it in his mouth.

"Who are you?" Yang asked, Ember Celica at the ready.

"This body isn't only owned by the one you know as Cooper. I am it's other occupant, and I go by Omega." came the reply.

"Why Omega?" Yang inquired.

"Because I am the end." answered Omega, locking eyes with her for a split second, before passing out.

Ruby was the first to rush over, lifting his body over her shoulder.

"Ruby, are you sure you should be doing that?" Weiss asked, still seeing the bloodstains on the man's mouth.

"Cooper's in there somewhere." she replied, walking back over to the group.

"What the hell was that?" Roy asked, his eyes still wide.

"That was death incarnate." Paige commented.

"How did none of that even show up?" Liz questioned, staring at her unconscious leader.

"I don't think that was even partly Cooper. You heard it, that was a completely different person." Blake said.

"Either way, we should get that sword wound checked out." Yang added.

"No need, it's healed." Ruby commented, seeing through the hole in his clothes.

"That's impossible. No one can heal that fast." Paige said, checking for herself.

"It doesn't matter. We need to report back to Ozpin." Weiss stated, walking back to the designated pick-up zone.

Forty minutes later, they were all gathered in Ozpin's office, including the recently awakened Cooper, who was actually Cooper.

"How did the mission go?" Ozpin asked, looking at Cooper.

"The White Fang has been eliminated." was all he said, staring right back at Ozpin.

"Nothing went wrong?"

"Nothing that wasn't taken care of. No injuries." Cooper replied.

"Good. You may all have the rest of the day off." Ozpin responded, returning to his paperwork.

Both teams walked out, and Cooper tried to walk away, but was stopped by a dagger impaling his coat to the wall.

"You have some explaining to do." Liz said, retrieving her knife.

"I suppose I do." he muttered, brushing off his coat.

"What the hell was that back at the compound?" Roy asked, getting up into Cooper's face, but he was only forced back.

"I will explain, but it might take time. I suggest we go somewhere with seats." Cooper replied, taking off at a brisk pace towards the lounge.

As they arrived, he took a seat that was distanced from the others.

"Start explaining." Paige demanded.

"Very well then. It all began when I was found by a secret organization known only as Midnight. I was around five then. They took me from my family, no that isn't true. They slaughtered my family in front of me, then kidnapped me. I was taken to an underground facility where I was tested in all fields. Fighting, Aura strength, intellect, and survival capability." he took a breath before continuing.

"I was there for years, five to be exact, when I was taken to a separate chamber where I heard screams come from many nights before. Inside the room, there was a small bed, similar to one found in doctor's offices. I was strapped onto it, and a small machine was placed over my head. It was within that room that I learned the true meaning of pain." again he took a shaky breath, tears coming from his eyes now.

"It was also within that room that I was paired with Omega. That was the entire plan behind everything, to place a killer within a child's mind to become a weapon. I spent the next six years learning how to fight, or rather, how to kill. I learned the quickest methods, the most painful. Anything about death or pain was drilled into my mind, and Omega drank it all up." his voice was strained by this point, the tears coming quick and steady.

"It was during a facility transfer that I escaped. But it was not a stealthy exit. I had to kill many men, though I suppose it wasn't me. Omega was the one who escaped, but we knew that the other children wouldn't be as strong as us, they were already weapons. So he killed them too. We became the only survivors of Midnight, the strongest one." he knew he would have to finish this quick, because it wasn't only his sadness he was feeling. Omega was a monster, but he was as haunted as Cooper.

"So I came here, a place designed to train monster slayers. I knew there was no other place for me. A place where killing was allowed, even it was Grimm. That is my story, should you chose to believe it or not is in your hands." Cooper finished, his head staring solely at the floor.  
No one said anything, they only started to leave, one by one.

Ruby was the last to go, but she did so without even a glance backwards, leaving Cooper alone in a room filled with sadness and he left. Not just the room, he left Beacon. He retreated deep into Vale, hiding within an abandoned warehouse, letting his feelings loose.

* * *

**Whew. Long chapter. Who knew that Cooper's mind contained a grade A psychopath? Oh wait, I did. Anywho, lemme know what you people think, almost any and all feedback is appreciated. Anyways, just keep fighting the good fight, and don't forget that which is most precious. Cookies. ~ Tor and Omega**


	7. Chapter 7

It was getting late now, and Cooper still hadn't come to the dorm.

"Where the hell is he?" Paige asked, seemingly angry.

"I don't know. But he probably isn't even here." Roy said, looking down.

"The hell does that mean?" Paige yelled.

"We left him. He was there, trapped inside a painful past, and we left him." Liz interjected, her own eyes watering.

"When he needed us most, we left him." Roy added, still looking down.

"He'll come back." Paige replied, turning out the light and going to bed, leaving no room for debate.

**Three Weeks Later**

"He still isn't back." Roy noted, although it was lacking enthusiasm.

"It's been three weeks. Why the hell hasn't he come back?" Paige asked, angry at the world.

"We left him. What don't you understand about that? He didn't leave, we left him. I wouldn't blame him if he never came back" Liz said, her eyes filled with pain.

"Don't you dare say that." came a voice from behind what was left of team CPER. They all turned around to see a disheveled Ruby. Her hair was a mess, her clothes tattered and torn.

"Ruby! What the hell happened?" Paige asked, running up to the redhead.

"Don't you dare say he wont come back." was all she said, walking away from the trio.

"Is something up with her?" Paige inquired, looking back to the other two members of her team. Both were looking at the ground, arms hanging by their sides.

**One Week After That**

"He's still not here." Roy commented, all of his usual energy gone.

"Four weeks. Four weeks has passed, and he's still not here. He better be dead or dying." Paige said, her eyes alight with anger.

"We have only ourselves to blame. We are the ones who abandoned him." Liz stated in a monotonous voice.

"She's right Paige. We don't have the right to be mad. He's not the one who left us." Roy added.

"Then we have to find him." Paige said, as if it were a simple matter.

"It's about damn time you figured that out." came a voice from behind them, it belonged to a certain brawler.

"Hello, Yang." Roy greeted, his voice still lacking energy.

"It's been killing Ruby for weeks, she's spent every night searching the town. Do you have any idea how hard it is to watch your sister go through something like this?" Yang asked, fire in her eyes.

"No." came Liz's reply, monotonous.

"It isn't easy. So you three get your asses into town and look for him, or I send you all to Hell on the fast track." Yang threatened, cocking Ember Celica.

They didn't even have to heart to defend themselves, they just started to shamble off in the direction of the airships to Vale.

The entire ride took five minutes, landing on the outskirts of the town. Team CPER minus Cooper walked off, searching for their missing leader.

The past four weeks had been hell for Cooper. He hardly had enough to eat just to survive, the only water coming from rainfall. He knew he couldn't go back though, they all thought him to be a monster.

_Omega, how're my vitals?_

_You are running severely low on food, and your water supply is dwindling. Your muscles are starting to atrophe, and eventually you will collapse and be unable to move._

_Great. Any good news?_

_You still seem to be alive._

_Thanks. I hadn't noticed._

_Here to help._

He cut off the conversation with his inner demon as he scrounged through a trashcan outside of a restuarant. He was about to dig deeper when he heard the footsteps of three people, all walking in unison. He could tell my their breathing patterns that they were tired.

He quickly leapt into the shadows as the walkers drew near. His eyes widened as the figures walked into his sight. His three team mates were walking down the road, looking with dead eyes.

He knew they wouldn't see him. But he could see them, and they were in rough shape. He would've called out to them, but it looked like they were being forced to search. They were probably better off without him.

_Omega, how likely am I to be found out if I follow them?_

_There is an eighty five percent chance of being caught._

_Thanks, Omega._

_Here to help._

And so he followed them as they searched, always staying in the shadows, never leaving the safety of darkness. After several hours passed, they were making their way back to the airships, so he left them to go back to the warehouse he had made into a makeshift home.

As he entered, he was caught off guard by a sudden tackle that knocked him to the ground. His aura flared up immediately, his eyes returning to their black color as he forced his attacker off and into the nearest wall.

"Cooper." came the attacker's ragged whisper, and his aura died down as quickly as it had flared up as he recognized the voice.

"Ruby?" he asked, taking in her appearance. She looked like hell. Her clothes were worn down, her skin was cut and bruised, and the bags under her eyes showed she hadn't been sleeping.

"Found you."

"What are you doing here?" he questioned, letting her off of the wall.

"Looking for you." she replied, walking up to him.

"Why? Someone like me doesn't deserve it."

"Someone like you?" she asked, still walking towards him as he backed up.

"A killer. A monster. Someone who doesn't belong." he answered, finally hitting the opposite wall.

"You're so much more than that." she said, finally closing the space between them.

"I doubt it." came his reply.

"Why?" she asked, closing the ever shortening gap between her and Cooper.

"You saw everyone's faces. They were disgusted. Even you left without so much as a backward glance." he answered, eyes closed, remembering the day that sent him down this path.

"I'm so sorry." she apologized, getting close enough to leave only a few inches separating them.

"Don't be. You aren't the monster here."

"But I am. I left you when you needed me. The true monster here is me." she said, her voice only a whisper.

"Do not speak lies here. This is a place of truth. We both know that you aren't at fault here. I killed so many people, and I don't remember a single one of their names. Not a single one. Out of all the lives I've taken. I couldn't tell you a single one of their names." he replied, eyes shooting open and locking with hers.

"It doesn't matter. You did what you had to do." she responded, closing the cap between them to roughly two inches.

"I didn't have to kill the other children of Midnight. That was something I just did."

"You said yourself it was Omega." came her defense.

"Who do you think let him out?" he asked, his fiery gaze turning into one of pain.

"You had no choice!" she yelled out, her patience finally wearing thin.

"I did. I didn't have to escape. I could've stayed there, and everyone would have lived. So many lives would have been saved." he whispered, tears slipping from his eyes.

"Would they? Didn't you say they were turning you into weapons? Wouldn't you have taken more lives if you had become what they wanted?" she asked, trying to use his own logic against him.

"I will never know. And the others will never get to be free." he replied, his eyes closing once more.

"They never would have been free. You said before, they had already become weapons. They had already lost their freedom."

"I could've saved them. I could've helped them. But instead, I killed them." came his hoarse reply.

She had no words left, so she did the only thing she could think of. She pressed her lips up against his, a fierce kiss that conveyed her thoughts and emotions.

He tried to push her away, but she gripped onto his tattered clothes and wouldn't budge, determined to get her point across. She had to stop after a minute, her body unable to support her without oxygen.

"Ruby-" he was cut off by yet another kiss, this one more violent than the last and it's message was clear. "Shut up."

"Please come home." she pleaded, resting her forehead against his own.

"After all this time? Would they even accept me?" he asked, his voice only but a whisper.

"We're all waiting." she whispered in return.

"Then it is to home I shall go." he replied, planting a light kiss on her cheek.

"Not tonight. Tonight, you are only mine." she demanded, dragging Cooper behind her.

"What exactly did you have in mind?"

"We are going to cuddle. And you better not complain." she threatened, glaring at him.

"No objections here."

And so the two paramours laid down upon the makeshift bed that Cooper had created, Cooper throwing his left arm out so Ruby could nuzzle into his side. That completed, she laid her hand down on his chest, laying sideways for more comfort. Using the hand Ruby was currently laying on, he gently stroked her hair, feeling the disheveled locks of hair that had lost their shining glow.

"We when get back, you're definitely showering." he commented, giving her a side hug to show he meant no offense.

"I'm not the only one." she muttered back, listening to his heart beating beneath his ragged cloths.

"Sweet dreams, Ruby."

"You too, Cooper."

Yang awoke without knowing why, something just seemed off. She quickly glanced around her room, taking count of her sleeping team mates. One was missing, and it just happened to be the one redhead she cared most about in the world.

"God damnit Ruby, where the hell are you?" she grumbled, jumping off of her bed and landing with only the slightest of thumps.

She quickly got dressed in what would could be considered socially acceptable, unlike her night clothes. She had just strapped on Ember Celica and head out the door when it opened. She saw a sleeping Ruby in the arms of the one person she hated most in the world, at least for the moment.

"Good morning Yang." came his cheery greeting, walking into the room like he hadn't been missing for an entire month.

"Where the hell have you been?" she asked in the most vicious way she could, lacing her words with venom.

"Oh you know, here and there. Met a really nice cat." he replied, sending Ruby to her bed with his semblance.

"Not what I meant." she said, grabbing his collar and dragging him into the hall, where she pinned him to a wall.

"Tsk tsk, not a morning person are you?" he asked, a sly smile gracing his features. He knew exactly how to push her buttons, and it was working like a charm.

"You are going to tell me where you have been, or I will beat it out of you." she threatened, cocking a fist back. His smile just grew.

"Oh Yang, don't you remember what happened last time you tried to punch me?" he inquired, cocking his head to the side. Her hair just got whiter and the surrounding area got a lot hotter, her eyes turning red.

"Listen here, Ruby went through hell trying to find you, then you just waltz on in here and expect everything to be A-OK?" she asked, fist fully ready to go for his face. His smile fell, his eyes taking on a darker tone. Metaphorically that is.

"No. I don't. I expect to be put through the same hell she did. Why do you think I got you so riled up?" he asked in return, locking his eyes with hers as the implications of his words made itself known to her.

"You mean you want me to punch the hell out of you?"

"With everything you've got. But let's take this somewhere we wont wake someone up." he answered, disengaging her hand to walk towards the training field. Yang followed soon after, too shocked to give a reply.

They reached the training grounds shortly, Cooper being the first to walk into the middle of the grounds. Yang was there shortly, preparing her gauntlets.

"Don't worry about that door opening, it wont until I release it, or I'm no longer conscious." Cooper said, stretching out his body for what was to come.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked, locking and loading Ember Celica.

"Yes. You need something to vent, and I'm the reason for much pain. It works itself out." he replied, closing his eyes.

_Omega, you don't feel any pain I do, right?_

_No, only when I take control do I feel what this body feels._

_Good, 'cause it's about to be put through hell._

_Are you sure about this course of action?_

_Yes. It's time to atone, my friend. What's the chance that I'll die from this?_

_If she goes all out for ten minutes straight, 50%._

_I see. Thank you, Omega._

_Here to help._

* * *

**Man, stuff is about to go down. I'm a tad bit sorry to leave this chapter ending like it does, but I need to get in some more writing. Anywho, let me know what you mortals think about the story thus far, and if you have any ideas for what should happen later on, I'm open. Anyways, keep fighting the good fight people. ~ Tor**


	8. Chapter 8

As Cooper's conversation ended, Yang threw her first punch, aiming for his stomach. It landed with a loud thump, two of his ribs cracking as he flew back into a tree with enough force to knock most of it's leaves off.

She definitely wasn't done yet, she walked over and picked him up, only to send another punch to his chest. After the blow, he was sent into the ground, a small crater appearing around him. She took the chance to send punch after punch into his chest, miniature explosions dancing off of her gauntlets and the hole deepened.

She soon took one of his arms and threw him out of the crater, his body tumbling after he landed. He got onto his knees, pushing his face to the sky to give Yang a good shot at his ribs. Omega reminded him that seven of them were already broken, and he was bleeding internally as the bone fragments cut his organs.

She took the shot she was given, giving a full strength punch to his ribs. He was sent flying once more, this time landing in a wall. She stormed after her prey, who was waiting for her assault to continue.

Ruby awoke feeling slightly cold and with a sense of dread. She took stock of her surroundings and found that she back in her dorm room, in her bed. She quickly got out, jumping to the ground and making no sound when she landed.

She was about to pour herself a glass of milk when she noticed two things. One: Yang was missing. Two: it sounded like explosions were occurring every few seconds, and she quickly put two and two together. She dashed out of the room, leaving a trail of petals as she made her way to the training room.

When she arrived, what she saw almost killed her. Looking through the waiting room's window, she saw Yang going all out on Cooper, who didn't seem to be defending himself. She tried to open the door, but something kept it from moving. She started pounding on the windows and screaming for Yang to stop, but the windows were soundproof. Nothing was getting through.

_Cooper, we can't take much more of this._

_I know, Omega. But we can't stop here. We have too much to atone for._

_I know, but do we have to die to do it?_

_If that's what happens, yes. If not, there's still a chance it's true. Our lives lay in the hands of Yang now._

_If that is your choice then._

_How's the body?_

_Ten ribs are now broken. The pieces have split off and have cut our liver, small intestine, and left kidney. There is also a piece nearing our heart._

_Not good news, but better than I'd expected. Is she pulling her punches?_

_From what I can tell, she is going at us with full force._

_Hmm. This body has grown tougher, despite it's treatment._

_A small piece of our Aura is keeping it from dying for now, but unless we access it's full healing potential, and assuming she keeps going this strong, we'll be dead in three minutes._

_Longer than I'd expected. Thanks Omega._

_Here to help._

After his little conversation was over, he looked up to see Yang approaching him, his body still stuck in the wall.

As she reached him, she shot an arm out to grab what was left of his coat, yanking it to pull him out of the wall and throwing him into the ground once more. Her fists didn't stop, the punches kept coming, Yang utilizing both her natural strength and the small explosions from her weapon to gain incredible forces.

_One minute left, Cooper._

_Got it._

Yang's assault was slowing, and her punches were becoming weaker as she continued. her exhaustion finally catching up to her. When she finally stopped, Cooper's lay in the ground in front of her, blood coming from pretty much everywhere.

_Ten seconds until consciousness fades, and twenty until death._

Realizing his dire situation, Cooper accessed the full extent of his aura, using it to mend his body, both inside and out. The whole process took another two minutes, and exhausted him completely, finally letting himself slip into the murky darkness that was sleep.

Ruby watched in horror as Yang continued to brutalize Cooper, her punches never ceasing as Cooper's body bent in odd angles and places. For about three minutes, she watched her sister beat Cooper senseless, his blood painting the canvas that was the arena. Yang's fists should have been covered, but at the heat they were at, it never reached the golden metal.

She watched as Yang's assault finally ended, her fists no longer dancing to the song of hatred. She watched as silver light enveloped him, coating him as if it were a physical force. When it finally faded, all of his bruises and burns were gone, his bones had been fixed, and he was no longer bleeding.

She then watched as he went limp, his body finally slipping into sleep. Yang had stepped back by this point, leaning back into the tree, then slowly crouching until she was sitting.

With nothing holding the door closed any longer, Ruby opened it and nearly flew to Cooper's side, rose petals coating her path. For a second she thought he was dead, but she then noticed the small movement of his chest and nose, indicating he was breathing.

When her worry was gone, it was replaced by another emotion, this one far more deadly and infinitely more addictive. Her mind was filled with rage, her body was trembling with the adrenaline pumping through it. She was about to flash step to Yang, but a hand caught her arm before she could.

It was Cooper, or rather, it was Omega.

"Cooper?" she asked, eyes filled with hope.

"Not currently. He is resting for now." Omega replied, standing up and moving parts of his body to get used to it once more.

"Omega?" she inquired, the hope in her eyes replaced with fear as she stepped back.

"Yes. And don't be alarmed, Cooper has you listed under allies, so you wont fall victim to my sword." he said with a smile, as if that was supposed to help her calm down.

"How the hell are you standing?" asked a voice that sounded insulted.

"Good, you're not asleep. The aura Cooper and I share has astounding healing abilities, not only to this body." Omega answered, flaring up the silver aura.

"Then why did Cooper have you take over during the White Fang clear out?" Ruby questioned, looking into Omega's completely black eyes.

"He was growing tired, and the wound was a bit too major for him to heal without passing out. I, on the other hand, have far greater control over the power this body has, along with it's normal movements as well." Omega explained, still running diagnostics on the body.

"But wasn't he the original owner of that body?" Yang inquired, standing up.

"Yes, but I was implemented to gain greater control of his strength. Had I not been implanted, most of his power would be left untouched. The same goes to pretty much everyone." Omega said, stopping his seemingly random movements when he figured out that the body was fine.

"So if everyone had someone like you in them, they could access that power through the implanted personality?" Ruby asked, surprising Yang, who didn't know what any of that meant.

"Yes. Some people, such as your friend Jaune Arc, only need training to access it though."

"Wait, Jaune has the capacity to be as strong as you?" Yang questioned, incredulous.

"No. He has the ability to gain his full strength, but it still wouldn't rival ours." Omega replied.

"What's the difference between you and him? Why are you so much more powerful?" Ruby asked.

"It's a matter of how much of your Aura you can utilize. He seems to have a fair amount, but Cooper and I's is far more vast. Not to mention that his reflexes are too slow."

"What do you mean, he has pretty quick reflexes." Ruby said, doubting Omega's words.

"Attack me at your greatest speeds, Ruby." Omega ordered.

"No way, I could hurt you." Omega just smiled at this, offending Ruby quite a bit.

"Fine then. If you're going to be so cocky I will." she acquiesced, pulling out Crescent Rose.

She then took off at high speeds, running around the arena to a point where she couldn't be seen, only after images of her. She then used her weapon's recoil to speed up, swinging the blade at Omega's back, sure of her victory.

What she didn't expect, was for him to turn around at nearly inhuman speed, knock the blade down into the ground and grab her by the throat in the span of a second. He dropped her quickly, not wishing her harm, but proving a point.

"How did you even do that?" Ruby asked, retrieving her weapon.

"I reacted to the sound of the blade slicing through he air, along with your breath and the wind you leave behind. I also saw the flash of red from the corner of my eye as your swung." he explained.

"That's pretty impressive." Yang admitted.

"I thought so as well." he replied.

"How long until Cooper comes back?"

"He will rest for four hours and three minutes. Approximately." Omega answered.

"How'd you figure that out?" Yang inquired.

"I took the average of all of the times he's passed out from using his Aura, and added in a few minutes because of the strain of battle." he explained.

"How do you do that?" Ruby asked.

"I can consciously access more of the brain than a typical person, allowing me greater memory and calculating ability." he answered, wondering if their questions would go on forever.

"That seems handy." noted Yang.

"Cooper often asks me for chances in the form of percentages for certain situations. This situation has three percent chance of ending with Yang punching Ruby." Omega offered, trying to give an example.

"Why the hell would I do that?" Yang asked, sounding insulted once more.

"Ruby would make a snide remark about you, just personal enough to make you angry, which would lead to you punching her." Omega explained, going through the situation he had gone through within his mind.

"Yeah that sounds like Yang" Ruby muttered, earning her a glare from her blonde sister.

"Hey Omega, if there a situation in which Yang would kiss you in this conversation?" Ruby asked, wondering how my simulations he could do in so little time.

"There is a point three percent chance of that occurring." he replied, shocking both of the sisters.

"No way in hell that's gonna happen." Yang said, stubborn as ever.

"How would it happen?"

"It would occur like this." Omega responded as Yang suddenly flew towards him, not able to stop their lips from colliding. After a brief second, she was forced back once more, too stunned to even be angry.

"That was...not what I expected." Ruby said, finally breaking Yang from her trance.

"This never happened. Got it?" she asked, threatening the pair of people in front of her.

"Understood."

"Got it."

"Mayhaps we should get something to eat. This form grows hungry." Omega offered, walking to the training room door.

"Good idea." followed Ruby, walking after Omega.

Yang just grunted and stomped after them, feeling rather ravenous herself.

The cafeteria was nearly empty as they entered, the only other people there were those of team JNPR.

"Cooper! You're back!" Jaune exclaimed, jumping up from his seat to greet his friend.

"He is. In a way. He is resting for now. I am Omega, and it is a pleasure to meet you." Omega replied, shaking hands with a very confused Jaune.

"Cooper has an alternate personality within his mind." Ruby explained to Jaune, who looked much less confused afterwards.

"I see. Well Omega, would you care to join Team JNPR for lunch?" Jaune asked, elaborately gesturing towards the table at which his friends were seated.

"That would be stupendous, Jaune." Omega replied, walking towards the table.

"Hey Cooper!" Nora shouted, finally looking up from her pancakes. No one really knew how she got the cooks to make her pancakes for every meal, but it was certainly interesting.

"He's uh, not Cooper at the moment. Everyone, meet Omega." Jaune greeted as Omega took a deep bow.

"Salutations friends of Cooper. He will be up in approximately three hours and thirty-seven minutes." Omega said, taking a spot next to Pyrrha.

"Hello, Omega. So Cooper has an alternate personality?" Pyrrha asked, turning towards Omega.

"No. We are separate entities. We simply share this form." Omega explained, grabbing a link of sausage.

"How did that happen?" she inquired, taking more interest in the man sitting next to her.

"That's a long story and it isn't mine to tell." Omega replied, digging into the sausage.

"I see. I'll have to ask Cooper then." Pyrrha responded, going back to her own food.

**Roughly three hours and thirty-six minutes later**

"Hmm. Cooper has awoken. I shall recede for now. It was a pleasure to meet you all." Omega said before closing his eyes.

"Later Omega." Ruby replied.

"Ahh it's nice to be back." Cooper said, eyes opening to reveal blue irises once more.

"Good. You're back. Omega was creeping me out." Yang commented, patting Cooper on the back.

"What'd he do? He didn't kill anyone right?" Cooper asked, looking around.

"No one is dead, and it was just the way he talked." Yang explained.

"Good." came his reply.

"So who's going to explain what happened at the arena?" Ruby asked, glaring at both Yang and Cooper.

"Oh you know. Stuff and things." Cooper replied, suddenly finding the floor to be very interesting.

"Haha, yeah. Stuff." Yang nervously added, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Tell me the truth." Ruby ordered, this time reserving her glare for Cooper, who would crack more easily. He stared right back at her for a few seconds, determined to win this game. He didn't.

"Gah, fine! I can't say no to that face." He muttered, seemingly annoyed by his own weakness.

"Good." came her reply.

"After I woke up in the warehouse, I carried to you to the dorm, where I encountered Yang. After setting you on your bed, we talked a bit. Or rather, I annoyed her to the point of which she started to get angry. All a part of my plan. So after my plan made itself clear in her mind, we went to the training room and put it into action." he explained, using the bearest minimum of details.

"What exactly was this plan?" she inquired, getting up close to him.

"Oh you know. The normal kind where you have the sister of the girl you hurt most beat you to the precipice of death to make up for what you did." he answered, averting his gaze.

"What?" she screeched, rather loudly to Cooper, whose Faunus ears hurt quite profoundly afterwards.

"Yeah I know what you're thinking. 'Wow Cooper, you're incredibly noble and chivalrous!'" Cooper joked, hoping to ease the growing tension.

"I was going to use the words incredibly stupid and stupendously idiotic!" she exclaimed, still but a mere five inches from his face. Yang couldn't help what happened next.

She gave a slight shove to Ruby's back, forcing her to once again lock lips with her blue-eyed paramour. Both of their eyes widened, and the broke apart nearly as quickly as they were forced together.

"The hell was that, Yang?" shouted Cooper, blue turning to black.

"I couldn't help it! You two were so close!" she defended, taking a step back.

"You will pay for this one, sister." Ruby threatened, putting extra venom on the last word.

Yang just gave a nervous laugh before taking off, running away from the pair who were about to draw blood.

"Should I stop her?" Cooper asked.

"Oh don't worry. I've got something far better in mind." Ruby replied, a sinister smile on her face.

"I'm not sure if I like that smile." Cooper commented, taking a step back as a sinister aura surrounded Ruby.

"You'll like what happens to Yang." Ruby responded, locking her eyes with his once again blue eyes. That line brought a smile to his face as well.

"Mayhaps I will." he said.

"So where were we?" Ruby asked, once more returning to the situation at hand.

"On what, exactly?" he asked in return.

"I think you know." she shot back, her glare returning. Cooper just look around the hallways they were in, no one was there besides them.

"I believe I do." he replied, pulling her in for yet another kiss, this one far more gentle and lasting much longer. As they pulled apart, they both checked around once more.

"This doesn't mean you're forgiven." she muttered, unable to look him in the eyes.

"Guess I'll have to keep trying then." he responded, once more pulling her into a passionate kiss, Ruby unable to resist. This one didn't last as long, ending mere seconds after it started.

"Stop doing that in public. We could be seen." Ruby said, glancing around once more.

"No one's here. I'd hear them if someone was going to walk in on us anyways." he replied, a small smile on his face at the light blush on her face.

"But what if they're really sneaky?" she asked, staring into his eyes.

"I'd know they were there. Besides, at this time of day, on this day of the week, there's only a three point four percent chance of being caught." he answered, removing his beanie as he did so, his white ears once more coming out to greet the world.

Ruby could only smile when she saw them, reaching up a hand to pet them once more. After a couple minutes of this, Cooper started to purr once more, the soft vibrations soothing Ruby.

"Maybe we should go somewhere less public." Cooper said.

"Oh? So when it's your ears you'll reconsider, but when it comes to our relationship you'd rather stay out here?" she asked, ceasing her gentle caressing of his white appendages.

"Maybe." came his response as he took her hand, leading her outside.

"Where are we going?" she asked, noting that she wasn't exactly looking her finest at the moment.

"Somewhere I found a long time ago. I doubt anyone will find us. And Omega agrees." he replied, starting to break into a run towards the Emerald Forrest.

They were soon dashing through trees, connected by hands as he led her deeper into the forest, a spot that only he could find. They were soon upon it, it being a giant tree. It's branches were the size of the trunks of the trees around it, easily sturdy enough to without their weight.

"Wow." was all Ruby could get out as she stared at the marvel in front of her.

"Don't stand there all day, you've got something to do." Cooper said, giving her hand a slight squeeze.

"And that would be?" she asked, looking at him.

"Well my ears aren't going to pet themselves." he replied. Then they started to float.

"What's going on?" Ruby inquired in a panicked tone, before she saw Cooper's smile.

"This is a bit faster than climbing." he explained as they touched down on a branch far above the ground.

Ruby quickly walked on the branch to the trunk, then turned around and sat down, legs straddling the branch. Cooper quickly laid back against her, the back of his head resting on her heart. Ruby felt his ears wiggling beneath her chin, and giggled a little before resuming her massage on the fluffy appendages.

And so they laid on that tree branch for many hours, Cooper's purring giving Ruby a deep sense of relaxation as her massage did the same to him. The two were, to put in simply, simply basking in the affection they held for each other. The feelings of peace and relaxation were addicting, each time it occurred, they only wanted more. And so they stayed upon that tree branch until the sun began to dip behind the horizon, casting a multitude of brilliant colors into the sky.

"It's beautiful." Ruby whispered, admiring the view.

"I find myself enraptured with a different beauty." Cooper replied, gazing up his girlfriend, who then proceeded to blush and plant a light kiss on his forehead.

"You're not so bad yourself." she replied, smiling at the small pout that crossed his features.

"I'm not sure if that's an insult or not." he complained before Ruby planted her lips on his own in an upside-down kiss.

"That's better." he mumbled, his smile returning.

"We should probably go back soon. Your team probably wants to see you." Ruby said, realizing she couldn't keep him for herself forever.

"Yeah, they're probably pretty pissed. Especially Paige. Definitely Paige." he agreed, removing himself from her chest, only to turn around and plant a kiss on her cheek before offering her a hand up. She took it and stood, taking his hand and intertwining their fingers.

"Ready?" he asked.

"For what?" she inquired. Then she saw the sinister smile on his face.

"Geronimo!" he called out before jumping of the branch, dragging Ruby with him. Luckily for him, she was too stunned to scream, and the drop was too short for her to break through that barrier. A couple feet before the ground, he slowed them down enough to land neatly. He turned to see how she fared, and that's when she slapped him.

"I guess I deserved that one." he mumbled, rubbing the area that was attacked.

"Yes you did." she replied, kissing him on the cheek that was slapped before walking off through the forest once more. They arrived at Beacon far sooner than either of them would have liked, the walk through the forest was tranquil and beautiful.

As they approached his dorm room, they both stopped a few feet away to say their goodbyes.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow Ruby." Cooper said, giving her a hug that she quickly reciprocated.

"You better believe it." she replied, ending the hug but giving him a quick peck on the lips before walking off.

Cooper took a deep breath to stabilize his thoughts before consulting Omega.

_What are the chances that Paige will physically harm me?_

_Ninety-five percent._

_Great. Thanks Omega._

_Here to help._

* * *

**Hello, mortals. Gave you a little look into the mind of a mad-man, as well as Cooper and Omega's healing capabilities. Sorry for ending it like this, and I know I say that a lot, but now I really need to start writing again. I apologize in advance if the next chapter doesn't come out tomorrow, I still need to write more, but school's got me lacking energy. Anywho, let me know what you guys think about the story so far, and just keep being awesome. ~ Tor**


	9. Chapter 9

Unable to wait any longer, he unlocked the door with his scroll and slowly opened it, hoping everyone would be asleep. They weren't.

"Cooper?" Roy said, his eyes widening.

"You're back!" Liz exclaimed, wrapping him up in a fierce hug that left him with little oxygen.

"You better have one hell of a good excuse." growled Paige who, despite her words, gave him a quick hug.

Roy started barreling towards him, wrapping him up in a bear hug of epic proportions.

"Roy please. I can't breathe." Cooper wheezed out, feeling his face turn red from lack of oxygen.

"Oh sorry. Just excited." Roy apologized, setting his leader back down.

"You better start explaining, because we've been hearing shit from CRDL all damn month." Paige said, glaring at him in the nicest way possible. Cooper's eyes flared up at this, his anger already back.

"First off, I want to know what CRDL has been saying." he replied, demanding answers.

"For the most part, it was all about you being too weak to handle this school, then it was about how down we were. It ended with them trying to boss us around. If Liz hadn't intervened, I probably would've hospitalized them." Paige answered.

"Then I guess I should pay them a visit tomorrow. Let them know I'm back. Just give them a friendly reminder about who the hell they think they're messing with." Cooper growled, his eyes narrowing in anger.

"Calm down there, tiger. We can do that tomorrow. For now, you start talking." Liz intervened before he could go hurt someone.

"I suppose that's only fair." he acquiesced, then recounted his tale of sorrow and loneliness. Of survival and pain. Of the warehouse he had made his home. After he was finished, his team mates only stared, analyzing the information they had just received.

"Damn dude, that's pretty rough." Roy said, ending the silence.

"Yeah, it certainly wasn't nice."

"What changed your mind?" Liz asked, as he had not recounted the last bit of his tale.

"Ah yes. You can thank a certain redhead belonging to RWBY for that one." Cooper answered, remembering how Ruby had changed his mind.

"Ruby? It was Ruby that found you?" Paige inquired, wondering why Ruby had gone through so much effort.

"Indeed it was."

"Why did she look so hard?" Roy asked.

"Oh uh, you know. She's not the kind of person to let that kind of thing slide." Cooper lied, giving a nervous laugh after he finished.

"Sure. Whatever you say Cooper." Liz replied, giving him a knowing smile and a wink. He just glared at her, a perfect example of the phrase "if looks could kill."

"Anyways, we need a plan to deal with CRDL." Paige interjected.

"Nah. I'll just go in and bust a couple walls with their bodies." Cooper responded, bringing out his finger pistols once more.

"What're you gonna do with those?" Roy asked.

"I'm not sure if you want to know." Cooper replied, storing his pistols.

"Calm down, Ranger. We should work more on embarrassment rather than physical pain." Paige noted, thinking about plans.

"Good point. I could give them all simultaneous wedgies!" Cooper exclaimed, his eyes lighting up in excitement.

"It's perfect!" Roy shouted, raising his fist to the air.

"Calm down there, you two. We need something better." Liz intervened, stopping the two's excitement temporarily.

"True enough. I have a better plan already." Cooper acquiesced, his eyes taking on a demonic look.

"That look is creeping me out, man." Roy noted, taking a step back.

"I second that notion." Paige concurred.

"Step One: Get them to agree to a duel."

"Step Two: Used acquired items and photos to heighten embarrassment."

"And Step Three: Hang acquired items on flagpole." Cooper finished, leaving the plan rather vague.

"Sounds nice, but what will the purpose of the duel? And what will you have acquired? And what photos?" asked a thoroughly confused Roy.

"The duel will the first step upon the path to CRDL's social destruction." came his vague answer.

"Please elaborate." Liz pleaded, locking her eyes with his own.

"We're gonna use Sunfire. That's when I'll do what needs to be done for steps two and three. That's all you need to know for now." he replied, sitting down his bed.

"Fine, keep your secrets. But one thing before you go to bed." Paige said, walking towards her leader.

"Oh?" he asked right as her fist met his face in a violent fashion, sending him into the nearest wall with a nice thud.

"Now goodnight." she finished, rubbing her sore knuckles and stalking over to her own bed, grabbing her pjs and walking into the restroom.

"Night." came Cooper's reply, already back up and laying down in his bed.

"Catch you in the morning, Cooper." came Roy's reply as he stripped off his shirt and jumped into his bed.

"I'll rile up CRDL in the morning for you." Liz offered, grabbing her own night-clothes and entering the restroom after Paige.

"Good."

**Operation: Welcome Home**

"Good morning Team CPER!" came Liz's cheerful wake-up call. Unfortunately, Cooper was still used to living in an abandoned warehouse, so Liz quickly found Umbra placed at her throat.

"Oh, uh, sorry Liz. Guess I still need to adjust." he apologized sheathing Umbra.

"It's fine." she replied, shaking Roy, who was refusing to get up.

"Paige, you ready?" Cooper asked, gathering up his dark purple outfit.

"For what?" she inquired in a dark tone, obviously still not a morning person.

"I'm gonna need you to take out the lights for the duel." he explained, giving her enough room to get up and gather clothes for the day.

Instead of responding, she just grumbled and stomped into the restroom to fix her hair and put on socially acceptable clothes.

"I guess that's a yes." Cooper mumbled, choosing to clean up Umbra as he waited for Paige to finish up. After a small while, he heard the shower turn on, and assumed Paige had wanted to wake up a bit more first.

"I'll go stir up the wolves." Liz said, finally getting Roy to get up.

"Got it." Cooper replied, focused on his sword.

"When I come back, you all better be ready." she threatened, exiting the dorm.

All she got in response was grumbles and grunts.

It had been quite a while since Cooper heard the shower turn off, and yet Paige had yet to exit. Thinking something might be amiss, he strolled over to the bathroom door and knocked lightly. Receiving no response, he tried once more, this time knocking a bit more forcefully.

After the third time trying to knock, Cooper figured something had to have gone wrong, though as to what that was he was unsure. So he did what any sane man would do. He opened the door as swiftly as possible, but the scene before him was not one of trouble.

What he saw was Paige, who was quite shocked and at the recent events, wearing nearly nothing, save her bra and panties. After a few seconds of awkward eye contact, Cooper decided it was time for him to sleep for a while.

_Omega, faint!_

_On it._

And just like that, Cooper fainted, his head smacking against the carpet of the room. Paige was even more confused by that, but was quick enough to shut the door before Roy could come see what had happened.

Cooper awoke some time later to the smell of roses. Opening his eyes, he found himself staring up at the face of none other than Ruby Rose.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." she cooed, locking eyes with him.

"Hello, Ruby. Can I ask what happened after I forcefully fainted?" he asked, taking a look around to see where he was. He soon found out, much to his surprise, that he was in Team RWBY's dorm.

"Well, after you fainted, Roy dragged you over to the middle of your room and left you there for a little while. After Paige finished getting ready, they decided to go get breakfast, but decided to not leave you passed out on the floor. So Roy dragged you over here and dumped you into our room." She explained to the still slightly groggy Cooper.

"That explains why my back burns like hellfire." he replied, flaring up his aura to rid himself of the annoying affliction.

"So how'd the reunion go?" Ruby inquired, letting him sit up, but resting her head on his shoulder.

"Well, we've already decided to have a welcome home party of sorts. I don't think CRDL's gonna like it. Oh yeah, and Paige punched me." he added the last part as if it was just an afterthought.

"Why wouldn't CRDL like it?" Ruby questioned, a threatening glare gracing her features.

"Probably because it entails their entire social destruction." he replied, rather nonchalant.

"That sounds...nice." came her reply, her glare now replaced with the slightest hint of a smile.

"It sure does. So what do you wanna do, Red?" he asked, wrapping an arm around the redhead.

"I don't know. What do you want to do?" she asked in return, snuggling up into his side once more.

"I don't know. You're supposed to be the one with plans." he responded.

"Why me?" she questioned.

"I don't know. I just don't like to think." he answered, unknowingly stepping right into a trap.

"I can tell." she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear.

"That was rude, I don't think I can let that slide." he replied, his arm slowing inching towards her ribs once more.

"We both know who won our last fight." she stated, prepping herself for the storm that was to come.

"I will not lose this fight." he declared, his fingers suddenly moving into action, the perfect sneak attack. Ruby tried to escape, but the flurry of fingers was overwhelming, so she did the only thing she could. She fought back.

Blocking his hand for a moment, her other hand shot towards his ribs, returning the gesture. Soon both of them were giggling like idiots, spazzing about as the tickled one another. The fight went on for much longer than the first had, neither willing to give in. When it finally ended, they were both exhausted, both from the physical exertion and the extreme amounts of laughing.

"Let's call that one a draw." Coop wheezed, laying next to Ruby on the ground, fingers interlocked.

"Deal." she replied, her panting in sync with his.

"Next time, I will win." he vowed, giving her hand a slight squeeze.

"In your dreams." she replied, squeezing him back before rolling towards him to the point that she could rest her head on his chest. All she could hear was the steady thumping of his heart, his pulse quickened from the battle.

"You have a loud heart." she stated, closing her eyes.

"Your's is louder. I can hear it from here." he responded.

"That's because you've got super cute cat ears." she defended, opening her eyes to gaze into his.

"That is very true." he concurred, sliding his beanie off so his ears could stretch a little.

"Why do they have to be so cute?" Ruby complained, her hand moving on it's own towards the furry appendages.

"I ask the same of you." he responded, closing his eyes as her hand made contact.

"You say the cheesiest things." Ruby commented, switching their positions so that he was laid back on her chest whilst she was propped up against a bed. Her hands quickly met his ears once more, and she began her massage, Cooper's purrs reverberating throughout his chest and into hers.

"Why do I feel so relaxed when you're the one getting a massage?" she asked, the vibrations from Cooper soothing her beating heart.

"It is better to give than receive." he replied, though he had to admit that was enjoying the massage much more than if he were giving one.

"Then maybe it's my turn for a massage?" Ruby asked, pleaded, looking him in the eyes with her wide eyes. She knew he would give in, and he did.

"Ugh, I can't say no to that face. That's completely underhanded." he complained, lifting them both to her bed. As they reached the precariously positioned bed, he had her lay on her stomach as her cracked his knuckles in preparation for what was to come.

Her started out rather unsure of himself, moving his hands in different rhythms to figure out a proper method. It took a few minutes, but he soon found a correct method and pacing, Ruby's face changing into one of deep relaxation.

And thus they stayed like that for quite a while, the two of them enjoying the time spent with each other, and Ruby very much enjoying her massage.

"Gah, my hands are starting to cramp." Cooper complained, stopping his rhythm in order to rest his hands.

"Too bad. Keep going." she ordered, valuing her massage more than Cooper's cramping hands.

"You're so mean." he said, but he resumed the massage nonetheless. He took breaks very often, but he still continued for a while before having to take a much longer break.

"Seriously, Red, my hands are killing me." he stated, nursing his injured appendages.

"Stop calling me Red." she replied, rolling over onto her back.

"Why? It suits you well." he shot back.

"What if I called you Black?" she retorted, her scowl somehow managing to be cute and menacing at the same time.

"I wouldn't mind in the least." he replied, wrapping his arms around the mildly agitated redhead.

"Why are you always so uncaring?" she asked/complained, returning the hug anyways.

"Well now that's not true, if I were uncaring I wouldn't have given you that massage." he pointed out, breathing in the scent of roses.

"I guess that's true." she replied, mockingly unsure.

"No guessing about it. If I care about anything, it'd be you Miss Rose." he stated, planting a light kiss on her cheek.

"I guess your somewhere on my list." she sighed, teasing the darkly dressed male of her affections.

"Well that wasn't very nice." he noted, ending the hug much to Ruby's dislike.

"You know I didn't mean it." she commented, trying to initiate another hug but being stopped by an invisible force.

"Do I?" he asked, somewhat rhetorically, still blocking Ruby.

"Let me hug you." she demanded, fighting against the force he was emitting.

"Why should I?" he inquired, locking onto her eyes. She was starting to get a little agitated at this point, his cocky smile only furthering it.

"Just let me." she ordered, still struggling against his force. Her mood was quickly fouling.

"And why should I?" he questioned, his cocky smile growing even more. That was the last straw for Ruby, who finally snapped.

"Because I love you, that's why!" she shouted, her own eyes widening as the words let her mouth, and Cooper's did the same. The force dissipated, leaving only an awkward tension between the two.

Ruby tried to dash out of the room, but a force kept the door from opening.

"Oh no you don't, Ruby. You can't just run out after dropping a bombshell like that." said Cooper, who had jumped off the top bed. She was panicking at this point, her mind a jumbled mess of apologies and methods of escape.

"Cooper, I'm really sorry it just slipped out and I-" she was cut off by her paramour's lips clashing with her own, politely telling her to shut up.

"Ruby, it's okay." he whispered in her ear, wrapping her up in another hug.

"But I just said that I-" once more she was cut off by a kiss, soft and sweet.

"Ruby, it's okay because I love you too." he whispered in her ear, her eyes widening and a smile stretching across her face. She gripped him back harder than ever, trying to bring him as close as possible.

"Really?" she asked, her voice unable to heard if Cooper hadn't had such an acute sense of hearing.

"Really." he answered, his warm breath sending shivers down her back.

They stayed like that for a long time, drinking in the presence of each other, basking in the affection they shared. They would have happily stayed like that for much longer if a knock at the door hadn't interrupted them.

"Yes?" Ruby called out, trying to fathom who would be knocking.

"Cooper still there? It's time for the duel." Paige's voice rang out, Cooper ='s face contorting once he saw how late it had gotten.

"Yeah I'm here. I'll be out in a sec." he replied, grabbing his beanie and giving Ruby a quick kiss before dashing out the door, Paige following soon after.

They entered the arena to see that CRDL was already there, glaring daggers at Liz.

"What'd you do to them?" Cooper asked, prepping himself for what he was about to do.

"Nothing much. A few well chosen words and couple pinches later they were more than willing to duel." Liz answered, a smile on her face.

"Nicely done. Now, Paige once this starts, shoot out the lights. Then leave the rest to me." Cooper ordered, taking out his scroll.

"Got it." she replied, turning her staff into it's dual-pistol form.

"Are both teams ready?" the announcer asked, CPER giving a primal war cry and CRDL just nodding.

"Let the fight begin!"

Instantly, Paige had the lights out, bathing the arena in darkness. No one could see anything, save CPER's leader.

He quickly dashed over to the other team, who was looking around panicked and confused. He quickly forced all of their pants to fly off, leaving them spinning around and trying to cover themselves. He quickly snapped a few photos of them before continuing his assault.

He had Dove fly into Cardin's arms in a sort of princess carry, snapping a few pictures of them. Then he had them all do overly sexy or dramatic poses, laughing all the while. After he ran out things to do, he finished up his picture taking and stored his scroll. All that was left now was the final part of Phase One.

Using his Semblance, he took their underwear right from their bodies, covering his eyes and turning around as he did so, forcing the stolen undergarments into the small bag he had brought with him. Then he sprinted back towards the team, grabbing them and running out fo the arena.

"We all done in there?" Roy asked, panting as Cooper ending their sprint.

"I got everything I need." Cooper answered, showing them the acquired underwear.

"By the the gods, Cooper, did you have to go so far?" Liz asked, mortified.

"No one messes with my team." he replied, storing the underwear.

"What's Phase Two?" Paige inquired, seemingly undisturbed.

"I'm gonna need to print these photos." he answered, his sinister smile returning, along with the eyes of a demon.

"Dude, remind me to never get on your bad side." Roy commented, involuntarily taking a step back from his leader.

"Let's go get started." Cooper ordered, his team following him as he walked towards the printing room.

* * *

**You guys have no idea how unbelievably sorry I am at how freaking late this chapter is. I had an extreme case of writer's block, along with being struck by a disease known as laziness. Once again, I am so sorry about the wait, I am will most definitely make sure that such a thing will not happen again. I do have a question for my reader's, however. Would you like me to focus more on other pairings I have in mind, or should I stick with CooperxRuby as the main theme? Feedback is, as always, important to me, so let me know what you guys want. Oh yeah and, once again, I am really sorry about how late this chapter was. Anywho, just let me know what you guys think, and I'll catch you on the flip side. ~ Tor**


	10. Chapter 10

Printing out the pictures didn't take long, but what was to come next would. Team CPER split off into pairs, Paige and Roy posting half of the pictures in the cafeteria. Cooper and Liz posted the other half in the main hall, Roy and Paige meeting them there for the rest of Phase Two.

"Are all of the pictures on the walls?" Cooper asked, Paige and Roy nodding.

"Good, now I call for a meeting." Cooper continued, sending out a mass text from his scroll to all fo the team leaders he knew.

Soon enough, a small crowd had gathered in the hall, gawking at the pictures on the wall. Laughter was ehard throughout the hall, all of the teams finding great joy in the pictures. All but one, and that would be Team CRDL. They sat in the corner, heads bowed as people mocked them, giving them a taste of their own medicine.

"How did you even get these, Cooper?" Jaune asked, gasping for breath after seeing a pictue of Cardin laying down in a sexy pose.

"Oh Jaune, I have my ways." he replied, laughing along with JNPR's leader.

"Cooper, you are amazing." came Yang's voice from behind, holding up the picture of Dove in Cardin's arms.

"I know." he responded, laughing along with his team and many others.

"This is very unorthodox." said Weiss, a scowl on her face as she approached Cooper.

"But very amusing." she finished, her scowl turning a smile, relieving CPER's leader.

"Thank you, Ms. Schnee." he replied, bowing.

"You are quite welcome." she responded, walking over to more pictures.

"You certainly know how to get revenge." Blake noted, a smile on her face as she saw CRDL in ridiculous poses.

"Oh yes I do. And this isn't all. I've got something planned for tomorrow as well." he hinted, a slight smile gracing his features.

"I look forward to it." she responded, walking towards more pictures.

That was how the next two hours went, teams joining together in the combined mockery of those who deserved it most. Eventually, it was time for lunch so all the teams shuffled off into the cafeteria, only to find more pictures for them to enjoy.

"Cooper, this is a beautiful thing you have done." Roy commented, gazing over everyone that had gathered.

"Yes it is Roy. Yes it is." he replied, watching faces light up in delight with every new pose they saw.

"Cooper, I now see why that duel was so important." Ruby's voice called out from behind him, full of joy.

"Yes, without it none of this would have been possible." he responded, slyly holding her hand as they watched from the shadows.

"But why go through all this trouble? I mean, they deserve it, but this seems like a lot of effort." she pointed out, watching the horde of people.

"They messed with the people I care about." he answered, leaving his answer simple.

"That's pretty honorable of you." she mocked, a slight smile on her face.

"I try to live my life as one who walks with honor." he replied, his smile mimicking hers.

"I can tell." came her cheeky reply, giving his hand the slightest of squeezes.

"I bet you can."

**Meanwhile, with Yang and Roy.**

"Gods Yang, did you see this one?" Roy asked, showing her a picture of Dove and Sky kissing each other on the cheeks. At the sight of said photo, the pair found themselves laughing uncontrollably, an arm around each other's shoulders.

"Cooper is a total badass." Yang noted, panting from her excessive laughing.

"Yeah he is. It's only his second day back and he's already got the entire school mocking CRDL. From what I hear, this isn't even his final step." Roy replied, peaking the blonde's interest.

"Oh? What's he got planned next?" she question, staring him dead in the eyes. It was few moments before he could speak, his tongue tied as the brawler's face hovered inches from his own.

"No clue. He kept the whole thing a big secret." Roy answered, looking off the side and finding the table near them very interesting.

"That sucks. But at least we get to enjoy wonderful photos!" she exclaimed, tossing a handful of them into the air, making it rain sexy pictures of team CRDL around the giggling duo.

"I am so glad I'm in CPER." Roy said, sighing with content as he made snow angels from the photos, Yang following suit.

"I bet you guys have the craziest times together." Yang replied, almost wistfully.

"Not very party-like in the RWBY dorm, eh?" Roy questioned, taking side glances at the brawler every now and then.

"Not really. Ruby's too innocent, Weiss is too Weissy, and Blake isn't the type." Yang sighed in return, temporarily stopping her movements.

"Even when Cooper was here before, we didn't really do much. There was the one time we celebrated Cooper's first board-game victory, but that was a more family moment than a party one." Roy related, the two highly disappointed at the lack of social events in their lives.

"I've got an idea!" Yang exclaimed, sitting up suddenly, her eyes alight with a burning passion.

"I'm not sure whether to run or congratulate you." came Roy's snappy reply, his team's sarcastic attitude rubbing off on him.

"Haha. Very funny. But I'm pretty sure you'll like this one." she continued, rubbing her hands together.

"Alright, I'll bite. What's the plan blondie?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbows to better see the brawler.

"After the whole CRDL embarrassment plan dies down, let's throw a party." she frantically whispered, her face shooting towards his.

"Why are we whispering?" he whispered back, happy his tongue was obeying him even though Yang was but a few inches away.

"I don't know." she replied, still doing a weird hybrid of whispering and shouting.

"So what does this party entail?" Roy asked, dropping the whispering match.

"Well, it shouldn't be too big or too rowdy, because I want the rest of my team to go, but I do want to actually have fun." Yang answered, her eyebrows arching as she pondered upon her current conundrum.

"That might be an issue. What about games?" Roy put out, just trying to brainstorm.

"Twister might be fun. What else though?"

"Maybe some sort of soft rock-ish music or something? Something to liven it up, but keep it respectable." Roy was just trying to throw up ideas by this point, already having reached the limits of his cognitive abilities.

"Yeah, I've got some stuff like that. What about snacks and drinks though?" she asked in return.

"I can probably convince my team to get the snacks, but you guys are gonna have to cover the drinks." Roy answered, trying to figure out how he would convince his leader and his grumpy partner. He knew Liz would agree nearly instantly, so he figured he would be fine in that department.

"We can do that." came her reply, the basis of the party all but laid out.

"Then we're pretty much all set. Wait, where will the party be?" he asked, realizing this was a rather important thing to figure out.

"We'll hold it in one of the old classrooms. We can clear out the desks and chairs and it'll be plenty of room." Yang answered, her quick thinking coming up with an answer quickly.

"Great. I'll go check with Cooper and the others." Roy said, standing up and brushing a sexily posed Cardin off his shirt.

"One thing first." she replied, rocketing up at nearly inhuman speeds.

"What's up?" he questioned, and suddenly there were a pair of heavily muscled, yet surprisingly smooth, arms around him. It took him a few seconds to register what was happening before he used this opportunity that fate had provided him, reciprocating the hug.

"Why're you hugging me?" he asked, his voice slightly muffled by her golden mane.

"Are you complaining?" she questioned in return, raising an eyebrow even though he couldn't see it.

"Not at all. Just curious." she shot back quickly, and he could feel his cheeks rising in temperature. He put it down to Yang's fiery aura, in both ways.

"I thought so." she smugly replied, releasing him from her slightly softened death grip.

"So I'll be going now." he called back after taking a few steps towards his leader, who was lurking in the shadows.

"Catch you later, Loudmouth." she called back, turning back towards her own team.

"Yes you will, Hothead!" he yelled back, taking swift strides to reach Cooper.

As he neared, he noticed that it wasn't only Cooper in the shadows, and Ruby was there was well.

"If you're planning to sneak up on us Roy, I suggest you do so quieter." came Cooper's resounding voice.

"Not at all, just had something I wanted to talk to you about." he replied, stepping into the shadows with the two leaders who seemed to be standing awfully close to one another. He didn't noticed it though, he had other things occupying his thoughts.

"Would you guys be OK with a party?" Roy asked, looking mostly at his own leader.

"Depends on the circumstances and conditions." came Cooper's cautious reply.

"We need to provide snacks, and that's all. The parties gonna be in one of the old classrooms.

"Alright. I'm in." Cooper said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Sounds like it'll be...interesting." Ruby mumbled, just low enough for only Cooper to hear her.

"Oh c'mon, Red. It'll be great." Cooper pleaded, deep blue clashing with silver in a battle of wills. For once, blue won, Ruby letting out a deep sigh.

"Alright, I'll go." she said, still sounding rather unsure.

"Awesome. It'll be after Cooper's final phase of the current situation." Roy added, walking off to tell Yang the good news.

"Ruby, if it gets to be too much, let me know." Cooper commented, taking her hand once more.

"I think I'll be okay. I'm just looking forward to part three of your plan." she replied, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Me too, Ruby. Me too."

**Meanwhile with the Ice Queen**

"Hello, Ice Queen." Paige's voice rang out, startling Weiss, who had been focusing intently upon the pictures in front of her.

"Hello, Ape." she replied with a deep sigh, already knowing she would probably dislike this situation.

"That was pretty cold Weiss. I guess you could say it was..." Paige took a deep breath before continuing, Weiss giving her a pleading stare that begged her not to say what she was about to say.

"..._Weiss_-cold." Paige finished, a huge grin plastered on her face, as Weiss sighed deeply once more.

"First it's the brute, and now you. Will the puns ever end?" Weiss asked rhetorically, receiving an answer anyways.

"Never." Paige answered, taking a seat next to the frosty girl.

"Is there something you want?" Weiss inquired, finding herself unable to focus while Paige was with her.

"Not really. I just haven't seen this batch of photos." she replied, taking one from Weiss' carefully ordered set.

"Feel free to look then." Weiss muttered at Paige's forwardness.

"These aren't bad, but the ones over there are better." Paige commented after looking at a few, gesturing towards the opposite wall.

"Then go look at those." Weiss replied, not entirely meaning what she said, Paige had a friendly aura that few exhibited around the Schnee heiress.

"But I've already seen them." Paige complained, taking a few more photos to view.

"Then why are you bothering me about them?" Weiss asked, somewhat perplexed.

"Because you're going to see them." Paige replied, standing up.

"I have no intention of-" Weiss was quickly interrupted by Paige grabbing her hand and forcing her up, heading directly for the opposite wall.

"Let go of my hand, Ape." Weiss ordered, trying to pry herself from Paige's grasp and failing miserably.

"No, you will see these photos, and you will love them." Paige replied, dragging Weiss behind her as the girl submitted.

"Fine." she sighed, allowing herself to be dragged across the room.

As they neared the wall that held Paige's personal favorites, Weiss had to agree they were fairly amusing. Several showed Cardin blowing kisses to members of his team, and others were just CRDL in hilarious poses.

"I can see why these are your favorite." Weiss noted, allowing her icy shield to drop enough to smile.

"Yes!" Paige cried out, suddenly very near the heiress.

"What?" Weiss asked, more confused than anything.

"I got you to smile." Paige explained, a smile on her own face.

"Technically it was-"

"No technicalities. I made you smile." Paige interrupted, a stern look her eye that bagged Weiss to challenge her claim. She thought about doing just that, but figured she would lose. Weiss knew Paige was stubborn, and didn't want to test just how much so.

"Fine." the heiress sighed, directing her gaze back to the photos.

"It's good to see somebody learned that you can't benefit from arguing with me." Paige stated, staring at Weiss' face to see if her facial expression changed at all. It did, but that was only when she turned to find Paige staring at her intently. This caused her cheeks flush slightly, which confused her greatly.

"W-what are you doing?" Weiss asked, her tongue somehow disobeying her iron control.

"Oh, uh, you see, that was just uh...I don't really a good answer." Paige attempted to answer, her own cheeks heating up at being found out.

"Then explain your reason for staring." Weiss ordered, sounding far more confident than she felt.

"I don't know, I just wanted to see if you would smile again at first, then I just sorta kept staring I guess." Paige replied, albeit rather sheepishly, unsure of why she had stared for as long as she did.

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again." Weiss demanded, once again sounding far more collected than she was feeling within. Something about Paige made her question her own motives for keeping everyone away.

"Y-yeah. Not a problem." Paige responded, still finding the ground fairly interesting. Weiss just sighed and returned to perusing the pictures, finding herself unable to focus properly as Paige just stood there in the corner of her eyes. Without knowing exactly why, she felt the need to cheer the girl up, which was a new feeling for the heiress.

"Look, don't get too down about it. It was just an accident right?" Weiss asked, turning towards Paige, whose head had shot up when Weiss started to speak.

"Yeah, it was just an accident. Won't happen again." Paige shot back rather quickly, startling Weiss and herself.

"Then just forget about it." Weiss shrugged, once more turning back to the pictures, and glad when Paige did so as well.

* * *

**Eh? Eh? EHHHH? What'd you mortals think of that chapter, besides at how it was pretty much a thousand words shorter than those before it. Do ya think you know where I'm headin' in the way of relationships? You probably do, because I made it nearly completely obvious. Some of you may be thinking "But Tor, what about Blake and Liz?" and to that I say, all in due time. I'd like to say I have a plan, and I do to some degree, but for the most part, I let my heart and fingers take control when I write, my mind gets too much work anyways. Anywho, you guys just keep being awesome, and I'll catch you on the flip side. ~ Tor**


	11. Chapter 11

After Phase Two's initial response faded, everyone went back to doing whatever it was they did during their days off. Cooper's day was spent finalizing his plans for Phase Three. It was an extremely simple task, but would still require herculean effort on his part.

Team CPER went to bed without saying much, all of them too preoccupied wondering exactly what their leader had planned for the morning. And thus, one by one, Cooper's comrades dropped off into unconsciousness, leaving him as the only one awake. He knew of only one way to pass the time, so he snuck out of his dorm and headed towards the training grounds.

The walk didn't take long, the training area was rather close to their dorms. As he arrived, he noticed he wasn't the one who was out for some late night training.

"Hello, Ren. Didn't expect to see you here." Cooper called out, heading out onto the arena to do some warm-up maneuvers.

"Same to you." Ren replied, shooting targets with unparalleled accuracy.

"Out here for some specific reason?" Cooper inquired, moving some targets over to himself with his Semblance.

"Couldn't sleep. Yourself?" Ren inquired in return.

"I need to get up early, but it'd be easier to stay up. Some training will help keep me up." Cooper answered, drawing Umbra and preparing himself.

"Would you rather duel?" Ren questioned, wanting to test CPER's leader in battle.

"I would." Cooper responded, putting the targets back to their original places and distancing himself from Ren.

"Semblances?" Ren asked, his meaning clear enough to Cooper.

"Let's leave 'em out. Don't worry about hurting me either, I can heal myself. And you, if it comes down to it." Cooper added, putting his sword arm back and left arm forward in a defensive position. Ren took his own stance, Stormflower almost glowing in the little light they had.

For a minute or so the two circled one another, trying to spot an immediately flaw in their opponents defense. None was found, so the circle continued. Both were defensive fighters in nature, but someone would have to start the fight. Cooper took it upon himself to do so.

With a primal war cry, he dashed forward, bringing Umbra from his side in a wide arc. Ren was gone before the sword was there, seeing the move from a mile away. What he didn't see was the fist that found his stomach, taking a little air from him.

Realizing that playing defensive wouldn't entirely work on his opponent, Ren took the initiative and went for close-quarters combat. Probably not his smartest idea.

Thinking he had an advantage with two blades, Ren quickly found that Cooper's moves flowed like water, his attacks not even touching CPER's leader.

"I know you've got more than this, Ren." Cooper said, applying enough pressure the Stormflower to force Ren back a bit.

"It seems I've underestimated you." Ren replied, trying to place a gap between him and his opponent, who made no move to follow. Ren started to shoot, his Aura based bullets flying towards Cooper. Suddenly Umbra was in front of the bullets, slicing down the ones in lone with Cooper, his sword moving at such fast speeds it was a blur.

Ren kept firing, but Cooper kept slicing, not a single bullet breaking through his defense. Ren was almost getting annoyed at how peaceful Cooper looked, not showing any signs of strain.

"I thought your bullets would move faster." Cooper commented, almost sounding as if he were complaining.

"How are you doing that?" Ren asked, watching as Umbra sliced through the air with ease.

"I suppose you don't know. I was taken while I was young to a secret facility in which I was trained to kill anything that could be killed. It was there I was paired with Omega. Long story short, anything that could be considered a weapon, I can use. I just prefer a sword." Cooper answered, charging the temporarily stunned Ren.

Ren quickly brought Stormflower up in a defensive stance, knowing that this was going to a rough battle. Ren did his best to defend himself, but it seemed like he was fighting water, if he blocked one place, it flowed to another. After accumulating many scratches and cuts, he jumped back, trying to think of a way to defeat the monster he was faced with.

"Leaving so soon? It was just getting fun." Cooper teased, looking as pristine as when he entered the arena.

"I don't think I'll be able to hit you." Ren admitted to himself aloud, but with Cooper's sensitive hearing, he made out Ren's words.

"Probably not." Cooper replied, startling Ren once more.

"How did you hear that?" Ren asked, finding himself faced with yet another mystery. Instead of responding, Cooper just tugged off his beanie, revealing his secondary set of ears once more.

"I see." Ren mumbled, seeing once more that he was at a disadvantage.

"We could call off the duel." Cooper suggested, but Ren wasn't one to give in that easily.

"Not quite yet. I know your defense can't be perfect. You did almost die twice now." Ren noted, a small smile tugging at his cheeks.

"True enough." Cooper replied, once more sinking into his combat stance, Ren following suit. Once more, Cooper charged the green-clad man. Ren quickly rolled to the side, only to find a foot sending him in the reverse direction he had intended. Negating the force with a roll, he recovered quickly, only to have to dodge again as Cooper assaulted him once more.

Ren realized that this was a battle he wasn't going to win, but he had a single goal in mind. Land a hit on Cooper. He knew he would have to separate Cooper and Umbra in order to achieve his goal, and he had a base plan devised to do so. Shooting at Cooper once more, he started to circle him, slowly closing in on CPER's leader. When he figured he was close enough, he attacked straight on, catching Umbra with his twin blades and twisting it out of Cooper's hands.

Left without a weapon, Cooper was smiling. It had finally gotten interesting. Ren figured he would have the advantage now, so he attacked first. His first swing was sent upward, leaving his side open, and a leg soon found that gap. As Ren was sent backward, he recovered by digging his blades into the ground to slow his momentum.

"Not bad, Ren, but you're gonna have to do a lot better." Cooper remarked, charging forward with nothing but his bare fists. Ren did a dual-strike, going for two side slices. Cooper jumped above them, and time seemed to slow as both of his feet found Ren's face, giving him a good jumping platform from which to do a back flip. It also sent Ren to the ground on his back.

"Are you good at every form of combat?" Ren complained, standing up once more.

"I know how to use every weapon. By body is also a weapon." Cooper replied, choosing a more defensive stance to use.

"Impressive." Ren noted, charging CPER's leader. He went form quick, short slashes, but Cooper managed to redirect all of them. Even after a minuted of continued assault, Ren hadn't even managed to cut Cooper's clothes. After a particularly strong attack that was redirected, Ren was left open once more.

Cooper took full advantage of the gap, sending a full strength punch to Ren's ribs, breaking a couple of them, as well as sending the boy back a few feet.

Ren couldn't stand anymore, literally and metaphysically, and signaled a surrender. Cooper quickly ran over and placed his hands on Ren's stomach as he rolled over for fresh air. Silver light flooded from Cooper's hands, repairing Ren's broke ribs and other afflictions.

"Thanks." Ren said, still laying down to catch his breath.

"Not a problem. Only fair that I fix the problem I caused." Cooper replied, sheathing his blade.

"You are a lot tougher than I thought you'd be." Ren admitted, seeing how his underestimation led him a catastrophic loss.

"You lasted longer than I thought you would." Cooper replied, helping Ren up to his feet. Both turned rather quickly when they heard clapping ring out through the night.

"Didn't know you were that good, 347." a cold voice rang out, Cooper's eyes widening as he remembered it.

"You." he replied, the word laced with venom so thick is was palpable.

"Ouch. You're going to talk to me like that after all I've done for you?" the voice called back, and Cooper could see them smirking.

"Why are you here?" Cooper asked, keeping his tone of aggression.

"You know why I'm here. Midnight needs you, 347."

"Midnight is dead, by my hands." Cooper coldly stated, slowly drawing Umbra.

"You severed one of the hydra's heads. Did you really think we only had that s,all group of people? Midnight expands further than you could ever reach." was the cold reply he received. He wanted to believe he stopped it, but deep within he always knew it wasn't over.

"I will take you down." Cooper swore, both to himself and to the person from his past.

"There is a war coming, 347. Are you ready for it?"

"I will take on your armies alone. My name is Cooper now, Chairman. Leave before I get angry." Cooper demanded, refusing to let his confused emotions control his voice.

"Angry hm? Speaking of that, how's Omega feeling, 347? It's a shame he isn't coming out to play." the Chairman replied, obviously unaffected by Cooper's threat.

"Omega is fine. We have reached an agreement. Now leave, Chairman. Next time you come, bring your armies. They wont stop Umbra from tasting your blood." Cooper voiced his thoughts, but they only brought a smile to the mysterious figure's face.

"As headstrong as ever, 347." they replied, and in a bright flash of light, they were gone.

"Who was that, Cooper?" Ren asked, sounding fairly shaken up.

"Someone with no soul. Go wake your team, we need to talk with Ozpin. If the Chairman said he has an army, then he does. He never lies, and that's what makes his enemies fear him." Cooper ordered, walking out of the arena to wake his own team.

He entered the dorm as loud as he could, hoping to wake his friends without needing words. He didn't trust his voice just yet. It worked slightly, Liz was always a light sleeper.

"Cooper? Is everything alright?" she asked, almost feeling his rage.

"Wake up the others. There is some very bad news." he replied, not bothering to change. His voice trembled slightly, and it would have gone unnoticed if anyone other than Liz had heard it.

"Got it." He was glad that Liz didn't ask any questions. He didn't trust himself to anser them without breaking down again. The past he had tried so hard to leave behind had found him, and was now threatening to tear him away from his new life.

"I'd rather die." he muttered, pulling out his weapons kit to sharpen his blade.

Everyone was more or less awake in roughly fifteen minutes, Liz had told them it was important, so they didn't complain. Seeing his team was up, he shot a message to Ruby, hoping she had her scroll's volume up.

Ruby. Something really bad is happening. JNPR and my team are about to talk to Ozpin, and you need to ehar this as well.

He sent the message, then sent one to Ren, seeing if his team was ready. They were, so Cooper set out, telling Ren to meet them in the cafeteria. He felt a vibration from his pocket, figuring it was Ren's reply.

Got it. RWBY is on the way.

Cooper let out a sigh of relief, it would be easier to tell the others what was happening with Ruby there. He told her to meet up in the cafeteria before placing his scroll back in his pocket.

All three teams had gathered fairly quickly, and everyone was looking at Cooper for an explanation.

"I know you all want to know why I woke you up at this unholy hour, but this is something I'd rather not have to say twice, so first we need to get Ozpin." Cooper stated.

"Looking for me?" he heard the person he needed most call out from behind him, the gray-haired man still sipping from his mug.

"Yes, actually. There's something you need to know." Cooper replied, gesturing for Ozpin to take a seat. Cooper couldn't care less about formalities at the moment, not that Ozpin cared.

"Now, most of you know about Omega, correct?" Cooper asked, everyone nodding as Roy explained it to Ozpin.

"What most of you don't know is how he came to be. As a child, I was abducted from my home by an organization known as Midnight. Their sole purpose was to create an army using only small children and adolescents, and strove to do so with the implementation of a killer in the child's mind." Cooper took a long breath before continuing, steeling his frayed nerves.

"For me, that is Omega. Not many children survived the process, and that was at my facility alone. There were, and still are, more. The Chairman, the person who started and oversees the exploits of Midnight, visited me while I was out training earlier tonight. I have Ren as my witness." Ren just nodded, trying to assimilate Cooper's words.

"He declared war on us, or more specifically me. I can't put you people through that, so I have decided to turn-"

"Stop. Right. There." Paige growled cutting him off before he could finish his sentence.

"Paige, we can't defend against an army, and I can't ask you to." Cooper defended, facing down her glare with a pained expression.

"You don't have to." Roy said, standing up and walking towards his leader.

"You can't get rid of us that easily." Liz added, taking her spot by Cooper's side along with Roy. Paige stood up without saying anything and stood next to him as well.

"Guys, this an army. Probably one of people who can't feel remorse or guilt. They will fight because it is fun for them. They would have no problem with killing you, they would enjoy it." Cooper said, trying to dissuade his comrades.

"We wont give them to pleasure." Paige growled, Liz and Roy nodding.

"Guys, I can't ask you to do this. I value your lives above my own." Cooper replied, knowing his friends wouldn't give in, but he had to try.

"Then why can't you understand that we feel the same?" Roy asked, looking Cooper in the eyes.

"Because if I led you to your death, what kind of leader would I be?" Cooper questioned, his gaze filled with a fire that rarely burned.

"It doesn't matter. They can't have you." Liz stated, holding her ground steadily.

"Even if we did fight, it's us against an army." Cooper noted, finally giving in to his friends' stubbornness.

"Because it's not only you." Ruby called out, her team standing with her as they walked to Cooper.

"Ruby, I can't ask you to do this." Cooper mumbled when she was close enough.

"You think I'm going to give you up just because they have an army. It's going ot take a lot more than that." she whispered back, smiling.

"I don't deserve this." he mumbled, lessening her smile.

"Even if you believe that, we don't. We will fight for you, even if you don't want us to." she defended, walking off to join her team.

"So it's the eight of us against an army, huh? Let's hope it's not over two-hundred, because last time, that didn't end well." Roy chuckled, trying to bring light into the already darkened room.

"You don't have to remind me." Cooper replied, finally letting a smile escape from his iron control.

"Cooper." Jaune's voice called out, pausing him mid-though and making him turn towards the knight.

"I don't know you very well, but you have done a lot for me." Jaune continued, his voice sounding sure and composed.

"All of the training sessions, helping me with things I never understood, and dealing with Cardin and his gang." Jaune was slowly standing by this point. And gone was the face of the boy knight they knew, the face a soldier replaced it, the fire in his eyes enough to set a house ablaze.

"It won't be the eight of you. It'll be the twelve of us." Jaune finished, walking up the Cooper and the others, his team following suit.

"You guys will be the death of me, you know that?" Cooper asked rhetorically, not even bothering to fight anymore. He knew that once his friends made up their mind, there was no changing it.

"As long as it's us, and not them, I'm fine with it." Ruby said, everyone agreeing.

The room was silent as they waited for Ozpin to give some sort of response.

"Well then." he started, a slight pause between his words.

"It seems we have an army." Ozpin finished, smiling.

* * *

**It is about to go down. Sorry for the wait, football's got me in rough shape. Anyways, did any of you expect that? Probably, it's the most cliche thing I could've done. Anywho, what do you people thing is going to happen next? Hint: there will be war. You guys just keep being awesome, and I'll catch you on the flip side. ~ Tor**


End file.
